Misadventures 2: Vengeance
by Fusion-Corsair
Summary: With the completion of his portal-generating device, Markus X hopes to return to Outworld and reunite with his girlfriend, Mileena. Instead of his wish being so immediately fulfilled, however, he and his friend Parsek are drawn into a maelstrom of deadly alliances and deception that can lead to only one outcome: Armageddon. Rated T for violence and other stuff. Finished!
1. IT'S THE COPS!

**Well... With the very high amount of views and support I received from all of you, not to mention the fact that I technically left Misadventures a cliffhanger, I thought I'd do you all a favor and create the next installment in my kollection of stories. Originally written from a generic POV, this story has been rewritten to originate from Markus X's point of view approximately six months after his last Misadventure.**

**MARKUS X'S POV**

I stood next to Parsek, safety goggles on my eyes as I prepared my latest device for testing. "Ready?"

The expert martial artist turned to me. "All set. Power seems to be running normally to the gate. I'm not a scientist-type like you, but I see nothing wrong."

Satisfied, I flipped a lever that allowed power flowing from a gas generator running on premium automotive fuel to energize the device. I could see the ripples in the atmosphere as the portal began to tear a rift in space-time, almost like the air above a hot asphalt road. As we watched, the dimensional rift finally stabilized itself, a man-sized purplish portal having formed with cracks and sparks of electricity running across it. I removed my goggles as we gazed upon the beautiful sight: after six months of long, hard, and tedious work, I had done it: a portal was opened up. Whether it went to Outworld or not I didn't care. All that mattered to me was the fact that we had opened one.

Stepping closer to the rift, I slowly slid between the lightning bolts as I reached for a box with a small button on it. Quietly praying to God over the simple gadget, I tossed the cube into the portal before the rift closed of its own accord, shutting due to instability and a lack of power to nourish it.

Parsek eyed me, despite his height towering a good head above my own. "You think she got it?"

I shrugged. "I can only hope so..."

* * *

**LI MEI'S POV**

I had been treated quite fairly since Shao Kahn's destruction. With the death of several Outworld warriors in the recent conflict, I had been given an opportunity to fight and become a warrior under the teachings of Master Bo' Rai Cho. It was said that he had taught Shaolin warriors such as Liu Kang and Kung Lao, though I found this shocking considering the amount of wine my master drank each day.

Walking through the halls of the palace, I was suddenly shocked as a purplish portal opened itself up in front of one of the stone walls. Was something or someone going to come through? I waited until a small, cube-like object came through the portal before it rapidly collapsed in on itself.

Befuddled, I noticed a red button on the cube. Pressing it, I heard an audible message come from the object.

"To whom it may concern: please give this object to Empress Mileena so that she may know I'm alright, I'm missing her, and that she can come to the location of this portal in order to bring me back. Cheers, Markus X."

With the device in my hand, I stepped into the throne room, kneeling before the one on the throne.

"I have a message for Mileena, Emperor."

The Emperor rose from his seat. "Interesting... Trojan has returned after all this time, just to reunite with his precious Mileena. But no matter... He shall soon be dealt with as part of our new alliance. Nitya!"

The black haired girl stood and bowed to the Emperor, Sho Dai's pathetic plaything proving to be a tool yet again. "Yes, my lord?"

"Go give Trojan an... adequate welcoming party."

"Yes, Emperor Sho Dai."

* * *

**PARSEK'S POV**

As the two of us turned away from the now deactivated portal, I took a glance at Markus's face. For the first time in almost a year, I saw hope and happiness plastered all over his cheeks. It made me feel good to know that I wasn't only using my talents to help a friend out, but that I would experience something just as amazing too.

Getting into Markus's gleaming silver Jeep Grand Cherokee, the two of us headed to Lowe's in order to get some more parts to improve the portal's technology. I wasn't sure as to where he got some of this stuff, I just know he got it.

On the highway, I noticed a black van with tinted-out windows in the rear-view mirror, thinking nothing of it, I immediately became suspicious as the vehicle not only exited at our exit, but turned into the Lowe's parking lot at the same place we did. I poked Markus on the shoulder to indicate the hazard.

"Yeah, Parsek, I see them. I'll drop you off at the front of the store. Go in and get a water tank we can use as a pressure vessel for the ununhexium octahydride. I'll stay here and see what these guys are going to do."

Nodding, as we stopped at the front of the store, I immediately got out, walking at a quick pace to the sliding doors of the Lowe's. Turning my head, I smiled, thinking that no one had followed me, when a large group of soldiers armed with guns stopped me at the front entrance...

* * *

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Driving off from the front of the Lowe's, I knew that Parsek would be fine. He was a smart guy, and so far as I could tell, there was no way anything would happen to him. With my friend gone, however, I now had my own skin to be worrying about.

Leaving the parking lot, I watched as, with no real surprise, the van continued to follow me. This was really starting to get annoying, and considering what a sturdy vehicle my Jeep was, I figured I couldn't do anything worse to it... Turning towards the the mysterious vehicle, I did something very stupid.

I rammed it.

I caused a good twelve to eighteen thousand dollars of damage to the front of my vehicle, just to stop the weird van.

My Jeep took the blow quite well, with maximum cosmetic damage to the grill, headlights, and hood. The chassis itself was entirely intact, and the vehicle itself was still running as I stepped out to get a better look at the van, now tipped onto is side after the purposeful accident.

Taking a crowbar from the spare tire rack, I marched over to the damaged black-ops vehicle, before I was struck from behind, falling into a deep black hole as my body ceased to consciously function.

* * *

When I woke up, myself and Parsek were in a room, cuffed to a pair of rolling hairs inside a place with walls made entirely of mirrors. I immediately realized where we were.

"Oh snap... Parsek, guess what?"

"What, Markus?"

"We're in an interrogation room."

"Well, who's interrogating us? The Army? Navy? CIA? We haven't done anything illegal."

"Well... We need to figure out a way to get out of this place. Six-way mirrors give me the creeps, just like binary star systems."

I looked around the room. No visible exit, no objects around... We were stuck.

Suddenly, a blonde stepped through a door cleverly concealed inside one of the mirrored walls. She was rather busty, a fact not denied by her all-encompassing camo jumpsuit and her beret.

"I hope you two didn't end up in too rough of shape to be useful here..."

I looked the blonde over, ignoring her chest as I had taught myself to do during my time in Outworld with all the large-chested women there. "And who do you think you are to be making demands of us, Miss..."

The blonde looked at me with a penetrating glare. "Blade. Major Sonya Blade, Outworld Investigation Agency, Special Forces, US Military."

Grinning, I responded with a taste of sarcasm mixed with sincerity.

"Markus X, college dropout, freelance tech designer, and boyfriend of Empress Mileena of Outworld."

Sonya's face grimaced a bit before she grabbed me by the chest and pulled me towards her, my face less than an inch away from her own.

"Well then... I guess you and I need to have ourselves a little talk..."


	2. Sonya's Interrogative

**SONYA'S POV**

With my hands placed firmly on the asshole's shirt, I pulled him to where the two of us were face to face. "What do you know about the Brotherhood of Shadows and their alliance with Outworld?"

The cocky son of a bitch smirked at me. "I have no idea what in God's name you're talking about, Major. Mileena didn't seem too kind to the thought of her undead sister being around, even if she's under Quan Chi's control."

I was surprised... He knew that Kitana was dead. "How did you know Kitana died at her mother's hands?"

"Long story short, I had to do a bunch of Shao Kahn's challenges to get Mileena as my girlfriend, challenges which included teaching a blood ninja how to behave like an Earthrealmer, killing off four demon sisters, and, you guessed it, defeating a revived Kitana. God, that was nasty..." He unconsciously turned his head and wiped his lips on his shoulder as they quivered in disgust. Something nasty must've happened after he beat her.

Shaking my head, I turned and slapped the bastard across the cheek. He was pretty damn good at changing the subject, but I still had him restrained in the chair. "Nice try, buddy, but you aren't getting out of this interrogation that quickly... Now I'll ask again: What do you know about the Brotherhood of Shadows and their Outworld allies?"

He continued to deny. "I don't know anything. Seriously." This interrogation was beginning to prove useless, and as such, I switched to a much more personal topic.

"Alright then... What do you know about Kano and the Black Dragon?"

He thought for a moment. "Hmm... Kano... Oh, I remember now. He's the guy with half his face replaced by the Terminator's head, right?"

I nodded as he continued. "Well... First, he got knocked out by a freakishly fast guy with a mask. Then he got slammed into the wall by Shao Kahn for making a witty comment. The last time I saw him was shortly before I did the second-to-last challenge."

I smiled, the visualized thought of Kano getting his ass kicked making me feel quite good. "That's... wonderful to hear, actually."

"Okay, Major... Now can you let me out of these cuffs? I have a portal to work on."

I almost didn't want to break this jackass's feelings, but I inevitably had to. "Unfortunately, no. That portal now belongs to the OIA. We'll begin using it to explore into Outworld, which means..."

He interrupted me. "Then at least let me go through the portal and never return. If this is the way my technological contributions to society are going to be treated, I'd rather live out the rest of my existence in Outworld."

I stepped back, crossing my arms. "Sorry, can't do that. You don't have the adequate level of clearance."

Looking at me with a smile on his face, the cocky son of a bitch moved his eyes down to the restraints holding his arms to the chair. It was then that I noticed they were placed over his grey long-sleeved shirt.

Then he did something that shocked me.

With a quick pull, the restraint broke free from the chair as he began to push with his legs, breaking the restraints on them as well as he stood up from the chair.

* * *

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Sonya certainly seemed shocked by my easy escape of her chair's restraints... Nanotech clothes were one of the things I had worked on alongside the portal, to give me the strength of my old armor, and at least some protection from weapons. I smiled as I stood up, kicking the chair to the side of the room as Parsek watched.

"Well, it seems we have ourselves a little situation. As much as I'd love to abide by your pathetic and nonsensical rulings, I think it would be best if you stopped treating me like your prisoner and more like someone willing to negotiate."

She pointed her wrist-com at me before responding, her face still resolute. "Continue..."

And so I did. "You want people to help you deal with threats to Earthrealm. I want to get to Outworld so I can get back together with my girlfriend. How about we strike a deal?"

Crossing her arms, the busty blonde gave me her best poker face. "What do you have in mind?"

"I want a few things, actually, chief among them being access to everything you've confiscated. I need some of my newer technology for any assignments you send me on considering that Raiden, God help him if I ever see him again, didn't bring my armor back with me. In exchange for you giving me back access to what is already mine, not to mention allowing me to travel to Outworld, I offer my wide level of home-grown technological innovations to your Outworld Investigation Agency."

Sonya pondered over my offer for quite some time. Eventually, with no other apparent option on the table, she consented.

"Fine... But the moment you betray the OIA is the moment that you become a traitor to the United States. Understand that."

I merely nodded as the Major typed something into her keypad, unlocking Parsek's bonds and opening the door in the wall. The two of us walked out, almost free men, but not yet.

* * *

**PARSEK'S POV**

The room we entered into was like nothing I'd ever seen, except in movies. The layout of this facility looked like something SHIELD would have put together, with Markus's stolen portal against a wall, surrounded by all sorts of other technical equipment. From what I could tell, the device was connected to the wall, assumedly powered by something high tech like a nuclear reactor.

We stopped in front of what appeared to be a reasonably intact suit of armor, vaguely similar to the one Markus had bought from that Canadian inventor years ago, but far more streamlined.

Picking up a plate of the armor, Markus looked it over. "So, what have we got here?"

Sonya stopped, seemingly trying to ignore Markus as best she could. "This is all we have left of one of the Earthrealm warriors, Sub-Zero. His body was cremated, but we took his armor and saved it, thinking it could potentially be of later use."

Picking the helmet of the armor up, Markus turned it around, looking at it from all angles. "I don't suppose I could use this to help me with any of my work, could I? After all, it's not like you have a specialist who knows how to best use some of these things..."

Rolling her eyes, Sonya continued walking. "We can discuss that later."

The two of us continued on, stepping in front of a large collection of computers. "What's this?"

Sonya looked at me with a seemingly interested appearance. "These are the computers we're using for a primary project of ours. Remember the armor from earlier? It belonged to a clan of cyborg ninjas called the Lin Kuei."

I saw Markus facepalm as Sonya continued.

"My former CO, Jackson Briggs, used a fabricated system override key to free Sub-Zero's mind from his cyborg body by disabling the restraining systems that suppressed his higher thinking abilities. Sadly, he died before we could save his override key and transmit it to the rest of the Lin Kuei. If that had happened, we would've freed them from the conversion process and crippled another Outworld ally."

I watched as Markus sat down, getting to work. "Alright, I'll get started. Never liked Sektor and Cyrax that much anyways..."

After a short period of working, Markus kicked back and span around in his chair. "Well, that problem's fixed. I made a quick brute-force unlocker that should easily bash aside any security that tries to disable it. Those Lin Kuei won't know what hit them."

Removing a flash drive plugged into the machine he was working on, he handed it to Sonya, who walked off with it. Within hours the data would be streaming to everywhere in the world, courtesy of the easily accessed international satellite system. This would also include the Lin Kuei base, where assumedly the computer would rebroadcast the virus to every single cyborg connected to that computer. I could only wonder what would happen at the Lin Kuei base as the program took its toll...


	3. Meanwhile, at the Lin Kuei Temple

**LIN KUEI TEMPLE**

**CYRAX'S POV**

I felt a strange buzzing in my cybernetics as I reactivated from my short sleep period. As the green lights formulating my HUD went through their initial pattern of reactivation, they suddenly stopped and everything went red.

After a period of several seconds, the bootup sequence continued, and I stood up. Something felt... different. I thought to myself about my past decisions and surprisingly found myself agreeing with them. It was then I realized what had happened.

I was myself again.

By this, I did not mean that I had forgotten all I had done. I meant that my personality, my actions... they were no longer inhibited by the cybernetics forced upon me.

And with that being said, I knew what I had to do.

Stealthily running to the temple's gong, used to summon all of the Lin Kuei warriors, I gave it my strongest punch, the sound of the gong reverberating throughout the entire building, awaking every single Lin Kuei warrior, including the Grandmaster, Sektor, and Neksus.

As the warriors gathered, I noticed Hydro, one of the elder ninjas in the clan and one of the first to become a part of the Cyber Initiative, step forward. "Cyrax, why have you summoned us?"

I merely looked at him. "Do you not feel different? More... more human? Something has happened to the cyborgs, and whatever it is, our personalities, our souls, seem to be asserting themselves once again."

The elder Lin Kuei nodded. "I feel it too, my friend, but I believe you have bigger problems to worry about."

Turning, I watched the Lin Kuei Grandmaster walk up to me, a scowl on his face and his two sons by his sides.

"Unit LK-4D4! What is the meaning of this?" I felt disgust towards his usage of my unit identification code, something I could only have felt with my own emotions.

"The Cyber Initiative has been... altered, Grandmaster. I feel like my old self, uninhibited by the cybernetics you have forced upon me and the other Lin Kuei."

Stepping into a fighting stance, I prepared to attack the leader of the Lin Kuei, when Hydro took his hand and firmly placed it on my shoulder. "It is not necessary for us to start a fight right now. We WILL get through this situation, regardless of the final results."

Calming down, I stopped and considered the circumstances, turning to the sea of grey cyborg warriors in front of us.

"Members of the Lin Kuei warrior clan! I have summoned all of you here due to a recent situation that I believe may have affected us all. Do you feel different, as though you are the man you were before becoming a cyborg?"

I paused, watching as heads were nodded and voices were heard.

"I propose that we separate the membership into three parts, considering the current circumstances. Those who wish to leave the Lin Kuei due to prior hatreds or disgust at the forced Cyber Initiative, go to one side of the room. Those who wish to stay with the clan, go to the other side."

I stepped to the side of the room, along with almost half of the clan as Hydro spoke up, stepping to another wall.

"Those who wish to remain Lin Kuei, but do not wish to lose your personality again, please come over to me."

Well over half of the cyborgs on the other side of the room rallied around Hydro as Sektor spoke up.

"Those who wish to be returned to their efficient and perfect robotic forms, stay with the Grandmaster."

The small remnant of Lin Kuei left rallied around Sektor, Neksus, and the Grandmaster as I spoke up yet again.

"Grandmaster, the majority of the clan does not want the Cyber Initiative to continue in its present form. I HIGHLY suggest that you take heed of your members' requests. Your being Grandmaster would benefit greatly from handling this situation rationally."

I turned to my 'troops.' "We will head to America and contact the remaining Earthrealm warriors. Perhaps we can atone for our sins during the tournament..."

Hydro turned to his group. "We will remain here in the Lin Kuei temple. If ordered to attack our leaving brethren, we shall use our judgement and grant them safe passage."

It was assumedly the Grandmaster's turn to speak to his group, but Sektor did something so despicable, so horrifying that I could truly not believe my eyes.

He stabbed him.

With his cybernetically-enhanced fist, my former partner plunged his fist through the back of his own father, Neksus looking on in shock as the cyborg removed the heart of the Lin Kuei Grandmaster, throwing it away. With a quick grasp of the other bloodless hand, he removed the Dragon Medallion from around his father's neck and held it up.

"I now rule the Lin Kuei!"

* * *

**HYDRO'S POV**

I was shocked by Sektor's sudden actions. He deserved death for what he did, and as such, I charged at him with the intent of killing him. However, he fired a missile at me from his chestplate, knocking me back against the wall. I turned, looking at Cyrax and the other cyborgs as they watched.

"Leave! I will hold Sektor off!"

Turning back to the treasonous Lin Kuei, I raised my arms from my chestplate, lightning sparking between them.

"You shall not live to see tomorrow!"

Rushing towards the manipulative son of the Grandmaster, I watched Neksus slip out, surprisingly following the defectors as we began to struggle with one another...

* * *

**CYRAX'S POV**

Having combined the powers of our personal transporters together, myself and the group of about a hundred Lin Kuei warriors appeared in the heart of New York City: Times Square. Pedestrians nearby were clearly scared, and many ran away from us, screaming like little children. Oddly, though, a small group of less than a dozen people pulled out their phones or video cameras and began to record us.

"Can everyone hear me?" The fellow Lin Kuei nodded, evidently able to hear my voice over that of the many tracks playing in Times Square.

"Alright then... In that case, we will wait for the inevitable appearance of the Special Forces. When they come, we will surrender to them peacefully. I fully believe this to be the only way we can contact them about our present situation."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned, only to see Neksus standing in front of me. Some of my fellow warriors raised their weapons or assumed a fighting stance, but I motioned for them to calm down. "Neksus? What are you doing here?"

The Grandmaster's son merely showed a sinister glint in his eye. "My half-brother murdered my father. Why would I choose to be another worthless peon following a usurper who shares only half his blood with me? I have no reason to remain with the clan so long as Sektor leads it."

I cautiously nodded. For all I knew, this could have been his attempt at spying on our group, or he could seriously have meant that he did not wish to stay with his brother. Regardless, I felt it was best to keep him with us.

"Very well, Neksus. You may stay with us if you wish."

A mutual understanding was reached between us as we waited for the Special Forces members to take us into their custody. It was our only chance of gaining cooperation against Sektor and his... Tekunin...


	4. Glacial Casing

**MARKUS X'S POV**

I had been allowed by Sonya to get a close look at the armor of Sub-Zero, and even now, I was seriously impressed by the design. Evidently, the Lin Kuei were far more advanced with their armor designs then even the man I had purchased my original armor from. The build quality and materials used for this exoskeleton-like suit were far superior to any known body armor in the world today.

Though the armor appeared to be designed to directly integrate itself into cybernetics that had already been put into a human body, it could function as power armor just as well without them. The design was sleek and modernistic, with several weapons located primarily in the chestplate.

Taking the armor with me to a secure testing room inside the complex, I slowly but surely put it on, the cold metal fitting on my frame in a very bulky way, though I still was able to fully move my arms and legs while wearing it.

The HUD inside my armor activated, glowing a light blue as it ran through the system checkup. As I waited, the screen turned red, an override occurring... Jax's key was still functioning, and if it wasn't that, it was mine. After about ten seconds, the override cleared and I could fully see and hear everything around me.

"Woah... This is pretty cool..." My voice now held a distinct metallic ring to it. "Now let's see what kind of toys this thing has for me to play with."

Raising my arms to virtually scroll through the semitransparent holographic interface, I noticed that there was one problem with the armor.

"Um... Can you please reset to English? I don't read Chinese that well."

The HUD briefly flickered off before returning, this time with all characters in English. I immediately noticed the reference to the former cyborg's identification. "Lin Kuei unit LK-52O..."

Scrolling once again through the interface, I looked through the weapons in the suit's arsenal. "Ice Beam... Cryo Bombs... Teleport... Self-Freeze... Ice Sprayer... Shuriken Thrower..."

Crossing my arms, my face would have revealed frustration. "I wanted fire and explosions in this armor... Not ice attacks! Those aren't as awesome..."

Sighing, I checked through the movements and motions I would need to do in order to activate certain features of the armor. It was like a blasted XBox Kinect game, but much harder. I had to have my arms and legs in the exact correct position in order to properly use the armor's weapons correctly, and wasting my time doing that wasn't going to help me fight through hordes of Outworld warriors in order to get to Mileena.

Turning away, I went to go and remove the armor when Sonya stopped me.

"Keep that on. Some Lin Kuei cyborgs showed up on our doorstep, evidently wanting to surrender. My men are bringing them here for interrogation, and considering that armor you're wearing, I think it's a good idea for you to come with me. Hope you're a good impersonator..."

* * *

**SONYA'S POV**

Markus merely nodded at me as the 'Lin Kuei cyborg' followed my lead. I hoped that this would work, but if it didn't, we'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble with dozens of heavily armed cyborgs in our base.

Turning the corner, I spotted Cyrax, the yellow cyborg we had encountered several times before. He was currently detained by a pair of Special Forces soldiers that had him by the arms. Though I knew he could easily free himself, he chose not to, raising my hopes of his sincerity.

As the two soldiers released their grasp of his arms, the yellow cyborg stepped forward and gave me what I knew from Smoke and Sub-Zero was the Lin Kuei salute. Looking at me with his emotionless robotic lenses, Cyrax stared at me before beginning.

"Major Blade, I am most humbled that you would accept the surrender of us former Lin Kuei."

I raised an eyebrow. "Former Lin Kuei, Cyrax? The last time I saw you, you were trying to kill the Earthrealm warriors, including me."

He nodded. "This group has left the Lin Kuei. With their forcing us into these mechanical shells, we have no reason to retain loyalty to the clan now that our personalities and free will have been restored, though we still follow their beliefs. I come here to ask for your help in removing as much of our cybernetics as you can. I know that I at least do not wish to remain inside this cold and soulless shell, and I firmly believe that most of the others feel the same way. In exchange for your assistance, we grant you and the Outworld Investigation Agency our loyalty and service as operatives, spies, and warriors."

I quickly thought over his offer. Their technology could prove to be useful to the Special Forces, but I was still wary about how this deal sounded too good to be true. I was about to make my decision when Markus stepped forward and offered his opinion.

"I think it's a wise idea to accept their offer, Sonya. I doubt anyone with bad intentions would show such a level of sincerity when they could easily snap the necks of your soldiers and kill everyone in sight with the blink of an eye."

Pausing, I nodded, but noticed Cyrax's apparent surprise at seeing Markus in Sub-Zero's armor. Murmurs were heard in the crowd of ex-Lin Kuei as the mustard-colored cyborg spoke.

"Kuai Liang?"

* * *

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Hearing the comment directed towards me, I turned and looked at the yellow cyborg. "Yes, Cyrax?"

The ex-Lin Kuei seemed surprised to see me."I thought you died when Sindel attacked the Temple... No matter. It is good to see you again, Sub-Zero."

I gently nodded in response. "The feeling's mutual."

Turning back to Sonya, I waited for her response to Cyrax's offer. After a moment contemplating her actions, she responded.

"Alright, Cyrax, you have a deal. Our med teams will get to work as soon as possible on removing the armor of all who want it off. You should be feeling more human by the end of the week."

Cyrax gave her a gentlemanly bow. "Understood, Major Blade."

As the new comrades-in-arms began to discuss their next plans, I noticed someone I recognized from my last tenure in Outworld.

Neksus...

Unable to contain myself, I pointed to the fully-human ninja standing in the rear of the crowd. "Neksus, get over here!"

The reluctant ex-Lin Kuei stepped forward, facing me as he watched my motions carefully.

"I haven't seen you since my time in Outworld, when I beat you down just so I could start my relationship with Mileena."

I saw his eyes explode in shock as he began to sputter.

"T-T-T-T-Trojan!"

With a quick pull, I removed the front of my helmet, revealing my face to the shocked former enemy. Cyrax himself was disconcerted as well.

"You are not Sub-Zero!"

I smiled. "Nope. I was just given his armor after he evidently died at the hands of this Sindel woman. From what I can guess, his body was buried as that of a man, not a machine. He was an honorable warrior who served his cause well."

The confused case assigns could only nod in kind, incapable of saying anything else in that situation. I used this as a chance to break away from the group.

"If you'll excuse me, guys, I need to make some modifications to this armor. If I'm going to use it, I'll need to set it to my likings..."


	5. Into the Maw

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Taking off the annoyingly frustrating armor, I found a nearby workbench and began to work on making this suit more... useful.

I started by linking the head of the armor wirelessly with an individual computer in the complex. With the computer, I reprogrammed some of the functions to utilize pressure points on the armor that I would install shortly. This precision nonsense was annoying... I could understand the cyborgs using it, them being highly trained ninja-like assassins and all, but I wasn't a cyborg.

Now came the physical placement of pressure points... I placed a pair in the palms of the suit, both of them wired to utilized the Ice Beam, Cryo Bombs, and Shuriken Thrower. If I held my left fist tighter than my right, the Ice Beam would activate. The right fist fired the Shuriken Thrower, and both fists together would launch a Cryo Bomb. Two small pressure points located on the sides of the index finger were also used: the left was for teleporting, and the right was for self-freezing. I kept one of the poses for the Ice Sprayer, since it was essentially used the same way as the flamethrower on my last suit, but I loosened the restrictions up to where I did not have to perfectly copy it. With that, I merely had to hold my palms out and push them forward a bit to activate the chilling weapon.

With the suit finally set to my liking, I tested it out, moving and shifting in it to make sure that all the components were working the way I wanted it to. Satisfied, I left the room before once again running into Sonya, a very frustrated look on her face.

"What was your point pulling that stunt? You just risked pissing off a huge group of Lin Kuei cyborgs that could probably kick our ass... Why did you think that was a good idea?"

I turned and looked at her, the mask of the icy armor hiding any facial expression. "They might as well know that I'm not Sub-Zero now rather then later."

Rolling her eyes, her arms crossed over her chest, she continued.

"We're sending a team comprised of some of our best soldiers to scout out Outworld and see the state of it after Shao Kahn's defeat. Considering that I could use some time away from dealing with you, I'm sending you and Parsek with them. Who knows, maybe your relationship with Mileena will be useful..."

Nodding, I passed Sonya and headed to the portal. If this was the case, I needed to keep the armor I was wearing...

Already at the portal were Parsek, Cyrax, Neksus, and a brown-haired woman in woodland camo fatigues that fit exceptionally tight on her well-proportioned frame. I stepped towards the group, the helmet's front panels retracted back into the rest of the armor, exposing my face. "So, who did Miss Blade put in charge of this little operation?"

The brunette turned to look at me. "Agent Gemini, nice to meet you. I'll be leading this team into Outworld. Our technicians have set up the portal to send us directly into the Emperor's fortress. From there, Markus and Parsek will go to the throne room to check on Mileena, Cyrax and Neksus will go to the armory and Tower to check on any potential prisoners we may know, and myself and Sonya will investigate to determine if any Black Dragon members are providing assistance to the Outworld armies. Are all of us clear?"

Myself and the other team members nodded, our readiness to complete this mission rather easily revealed.

"Alright then... Doctor Aschwader, open the portal!"

A blonde man with thick scientist glasses and a lab coat turned and eyed Gemini before pulling down on a lever that began to send power to the portal. The purplish glow of energy began to form in the center of the ring before the rift was finally opened, the portal taking several seconds to stabilize as flashes of lightning crossed its event horizon. As my design was originally created for a single person to enter through, we lined up single-file before entering through the unstable purplish device.

As we crossed over, I felt a shiver run down my spine... Whether it was the armor I was wearing or the portal itself I did not know. All I did know, however, was that we were all in a hallway, one I had crossed through many months ago during my time here. Gemini motioned for us to get around her as she again reiterated the plan.

"Do you all remember your orders?"

We nodded as the six of us split up into our groups of two. Myself and Parsek headed to the hallway, the way I remembered from my last appearance here. The karategi-clad warrior turned to look at me as we headed towards the throne room. "So... What's Mileena like?"

In my armor, I facepalmed. I had never gotten a picture of her on my iPhone, so Parsek had no idea what she looked like. "Well... She's smoking hot to say the least. Surprisingly manages to wear very little. She has piercing yellow eyes, almost like a deadly reptile, and is extremely deadly. Before we were a couple, she had a massive maw that was capable of physically tearing anyone she fought into tiny chunks of flesh, but evidently her father "gifted" her with the ability to change her mouth to a normal human one after we hooked up. She's murderous and somewhat psychotic, but a surprisingly good girlfriend. I dunno, maybe we just worked so well together because we were outcasts in our respective realms."

Parsek merely listened as the two of us came to the doors of the throne room. Standing on the left side of them as he stood to the right, I counted on my fingers before dashing through the massive doors, swiftly opening them as we began to step towards the throne.

Unusually enough, Mileena was nowhere to be found as I looked over the group of people in the room. The man on the throne I recognized as one of Shao Kahn's minions from last time, as well as the girl next to him. Others, though, I did not recognize.

There was a fully black, translucent figure with blue eyes, as well as Noob Saibot, though he appeared to be a full silhouette of his former self. Also there was a female ninja dressed in a black and blue leotard. She looked familiar, as did the woman in green next to her. Along with them were two other women: one wearing a yellow and black outfit that I recognized as Tanya, and another dark-haired woman wearing a black leather bodysuit. The tiger-man I had beaten in my final challenge, Kintaro, was also there, with less fur and his hair in a ponytail.

"Well, this is going to be fun."

* * *

**SONYA'S POV**

Walking with Gemini, our weapons at the ready, the two of us glided down the tunnel leading to the underground sewers, the most likely place a Black Dragon camp would be set up at. As we did so, I couldn't help but feel frustration and hatred as we neared the likely hiding spot of Kano. Unfortunately, Gemini could tell this as well.

"Sonya, what's wrong? You seem a bit too... Too tense."

I shrugged. "I suppose having your partner killed by a madman who abused and tortured you, then coming back for vengeance against him is enough worry anyone's ass. I'm just hoping we don't run into any of Kano's goddamn henchmen..."

Evidently, my words were said too soon, as a burst of flame appeared several feet from us. Illuminating the area was a ring of quickly-lit oil that ignited in seconds, the 'burning wall' effect showing that myself and Gemini were surrounded by Black Dragon members who I recognized from a prison break a couple of years ago.

"Tasia? Jarek? No Face? Tremor? I thought Jax killed you all..."

The cutoff halter top-wearing woman merely smiled as she crossed her arms, glad to see us in a situation such as this. "Jax was not as strong as one might think. Besides, he is dead after all..."

Jarek smiled as he looked over us. "And soon, you two ladies will be nothing but little playtoys for myself and the other Black Dragon members."

Tremor pounded his fists together. "But first, we put the beatdown on you..."

"...and make you both hotter than before!" No Face finished his fellow Black Dragon's sentence with a jet of flame.

Gemini and I looked at one another and gave a quick nod before rushing towards a pair of Black Dragons.

Seeing as she was the more agile of the two, I turned towards Tasia and quickly slid into her before pedal kicking up, hitting the warrior in the chest before grabbing her with my legs and slamming her head-first into the ground of the cold and dark tunnel. Incapacitated for the moment, I turned only to feel the slash of a butterfly knife across my shoulder. Crying out, I was kicked in the chest by Kano's student before launching a ball of energy from my wrist-com. This stunned him, but didn't exactly stop Jarek as he lunged at me, pinning my body to the ground as he held up the knife, ready to strike.

Just then, though, both of us heard an explosion. Turning his head, Jarek looked to see what had happened, the opportunity I was waiting for as I pulled out my corded nunchuks and bashed him in the head with them before squeezing his throat with my legs, rendering him unconscious. With my two opponents finished for the time being, I rushed to help Gemini, only to be greeted by a strange sight.

Gemini stood there, her arms crossed as she over viewed the sight before her. On one side was a massive burn mark, human guts and blood strewn about in the explosion of the being that was No Face at one point, and on the other was a pile of large rocks jutting from the ground, inside of which I could hear a very frustrated and highly agitated Tremor.

With a smile, the two of us walked further into the lair of the Black Dragon, hopefully to find Kano and stop this madness...


	6. She's Back, Sadly

**MARKUS X'S POV**

I stared at the man sitting on the throne. I fully recognized him from earlier, but did not know his name. "And who are you? Shao Kahn's cousin?"

The man sneered as he stood up from the glistening royal chair, his black, gold-embroidered attire showing off his evidently high level of importance. "I am Sho Dai, Emperor of Outworld and former leader of Shao Kahn's Shadow Priests. Having seen it as an opportune time to truly formulate the Forces of Darkness, I deposed 'Empress' Mileena and exiled her from Outworld. With Quan Chi's inevitable assistance, Outworld and the Netherrealm will rule over Earthrealm!"

I merely shook my head. "If Shao Kahn's army couldn't defeat Earthrealm, what makes you think you have a chance?"

The sinister Shadow Priest merely chuckled before responding. "I assure you that we have been working on such a thing. My minions have already begun work on the latest strategy to replace key Earthrealm leaders with our own sorcery-created drones. When your defenses are set into shambles by your own men, will we not slip through and rule your world?"

Tanya nodded in agreement with him. "Indeed... The Deadly Alliance my Emperor has formulated with the Netherrealm is far more powerful than Shao Kahn's feeble army. Serina will prove her worth once she eliminates that accursed ice ninja and takes the princess's place..."

Before Sho Dai could tell Tanya to stop spilling his plans, I stepped into a fighting stance with Parsek. "Okay, we all know this is going to turn into a full-scale brawl, but could you do me the decency of naming all your drones... I mean warriors? I still don't know all of their names."

With a cruelly twisted smile, Sho Dai nodded as his minions formulated around him. Pointing at each one, he named them.

"Ruutuu! Noob Saibot! Kitana! Jade! Nitya! Tanya! Lamia! Kintaro!"

First to approach myself and Parsek were the mysterious Ruutuu and the spectral Noob Saibot. The blue eyes of the sinister form glowed brightly as I prepared to attack him. Parsek would deal with the wraith.

The demonic being sneered at me as I was looked over. "You are not worthy of dealing with a powerful demon such as I!"

Raising his arms, the phantom-like being summoned a decaying corpse that appeared to be some sort of Native American. With glowing red eyes, he stared at me for a moment before bowing to Ruutuu. "Nightwolf's soul was part of Quan Chi's offer for my allegiance. Soon you will feel the consequences of this decision!"

The undead Indian took a green tomahawk and threw it at me, a hit which I quickly ducked under before using the ice spray on the decaying Native American. With a good amount of cryogenic liquid having sprayed on the damaged body, the corpse froze solid, an opportunity I utilized to my advantage as I physically plunged my right arm through the frozen cadaver, shattering it into hundreds of pieces with the single strike.

Smirking at Ruutuu, I picked up a shard of Nightwolf's remains, thoroughly encased in ice and blood. "Can we get this fight going now? I don't want to waste my time doing this over and over again when I can simply send you back to the Netherrealm..."

The demon scowled at me before lunging forward, attempting to attack me with his semitransparent form. I fired a blast of ice at Ruutuu... And it went through him. Despite this, I still felt the flurry of punches and kicks from him as I fell back, rolling backwards as I prepared to fire some shurikens at the demon. Squeezing my fists in the correct way to fire the weapons, I gasped as they again went right through Ruutuu, ricocheting off the palace walls. I heard a cry and turned to see Noob Saibot with the shurikens I had fired lodged in his back as Parsek finished him with a brutal series of chops, finished by a Chuck Norris-style roundhouse kick.

A punch from Ruutuu made me return to thinking about how I was going to handle the demonic being, when a thought occurred to me. Pressing the point that would self-freeze me, I was covered with a thin layer of ice as Ruutuu's fist made contact with my shoulder. Looking up, I saw the demon's mouth wide open as he froze over, a scared look in his eyes as I chopped down directly onto his iced skull. Ruutuu's head shattered like a snow globe, the black juices composing his demonic body pouring out of his neck as his body defrosted and fell forward, not even a single spark of life remaining in the vile carapace.

Turning back to the now pissed-off Shadow Priest, I retracted the helmet's front places, allowing him to see the smirk on my face as Parsek joined me, his attire thoroughly stained by the now-incapacitated Noob Saibot's blood. I noticed as I looked up that the hooded woman, Nitya, and the leather bodysuit-wearing woman, Lamia, were both gone, leaving Kitana, Jade, Tanya, and Kintaro. I crossed my arms, waiting as I mocked the so-called 'Emperor.' "So, what's next? If your boys couldn't do us in, what makes you think anyone you have left can stop us?" I looked the three women over. "Not including Bumblebee, Puppy-Dog, and the ignorant hooker over here..."

Sho Dai turned to the three women. "He insulted you. You may take him, but do not kill him. Kintaro, you shall take his friend to the dungeons once you subdue him."

The three women, two masked, one not, advanced on me. Jade and Kitana both threw their weapons at me as I dashed towards them, ducking and dodging to avoid the razorang and fans before clotheslining Tanya as hard as I could. With the nymphomaniacal backstabber on the floor, I had just evened the odds. "Who wants some now?"

Kitana gave me a murderous glare, but Jade held a hand to her waist, stopping her from lunging at me. "Do not worry about him, princess. I will deal with this miscreant who shamed you by sleeping with your disgusting copy!"

Standing there, I merely stood motionless looking at Jade. She crossed her arms over the rather revealing split leotard she was wearing, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

I merely pointed at the back of her attire, her hind quarters barely covered by the thin, thong-like bottom of her outfit. "Dat ass."

Hearing her scream of hatred and frustration, I ducked, dodging the glowing purple pole that appeared in her hands as it projected above me. "So you're a pole dancer when you aren't busy being the life-partner of Kitana over here? That's hot..."

The beautifully dark-skinned woman lost it, seemingly shattering in frustration as her stabs, kicks, and lunges became uncoordinated maelstroms of physically manifested fury. I hooked my leg underneath Jade's as she tried to kick me, pulling her to the ground before dashing forward, intentionally falling on top the assassin, pinning her down as she tried to get up. Regardless of what magic she may have had at her disposal, she wasn't getting me off of her any time soon.

Struggling, she uttered a string of curses in a language I didn't understand before glaring at me with her emerald green eyes. "For Argus' sake, get off of me!"

Looking down on her, I nodded before giving her a metallic pimp slap to the face, something that surprisingly calmed her down as the pissed off ninja stopped moving. Looking up, I noticed that I had only one foe left, one who, in this case, seemed thoroughly worried about facing me.

Looking up at Kitana from my position on top of Jade, I slowly got off of her friend and began to walk towards the princess, who seemed surprisingly more fearful now that her human shield of a partner was unable to save her. As I prepared to freeze the princess, though, I felt a crack over my head as my vision began to go blurry. Slumping forward, I turned and saw Kintaro, his fist ready to strike me yet again. Evidently though, he wouldn't need to, as I slipped into the black abyss by myself with no more assistance...

* * *

**CYRAX'S POV**

As myself and Neksus entered the halls of the Emperor's dungeons, I could immediately tell that things were different now. While the cells were mostly devoid of prisoners, I noticed some that still lined the halls. Of note was one woman chained to the walls in the farthest cell down the hall, fully restrained by her arms and legs so she could barely move. When she spotted us, she motioned with her head, trying to get our attention.

Neksus, being the ever intelligent young man he was, immediately rushed towards her, eying her well-proportioned frame and minimal attire. "This woman seems familiar..." Running a hand down her waist, he paused and suddenly noticed the red eyes boring death into his soul. "It's Skarlet!"

Without any further thoughts, I took my buzzsaw and slashed it through the chest of the bloodspawn, watching as her body dissolved into a blobular mass before reforming in front of us. Shaking her arms and legs to remove the feeling of numbness, the sinister assassin quickly gathered her wits about her before pulling the mask off of her face, the Lin Kuei-like outfit she now wore preparing her for the inevitable fight.

"Thanks, Cyrax, but I've gotta get to Mileena. It's vitally important that I inform her that the time is now to begin the counterattack on the fortress. Baraka and Sheeva are waiting to hear from me."

Skarlet rushed towards the exit, but a word from Neksus stopped her. "Markus!"

The red ninja froze, turning to look at the former Grandmaster's son. "What?"

Neksus answered her. "Markus is with us! I know Mileena wants him... Tell her that she needs to come and get him."

Skarlet nodded before leaving the dungeon, as myself and Neksus returned to searching through the prisoners of the dank and depressing room.

Hearing a groan from a cell, I turned and spied a bloody person, barely holding themselves up as they grasped the bars in front of their prison.

I could tell it was a man, wearing the tattered remains of his red and black attire. His eyes were white, like those of a blind man, and his hand seemed to emanate a faint light blue energy, very weak due to his injuries. Sensing us, he weakly raised an arm.

"Help me... Sonya... Must know... Shinnok... Agh!"

Slumping over from the pain, the man fell back to the stone floor as I quickly cut through the steel bars, Neksus reaching inside to help the man regain his footing as he looked at me. "We need to get this man back to Earthrealm. He has lost a serious amount of blood, and will likely die if we do not get him help soon."

I nodded as the two of us moved to leave the dungeon, but hearing a roar, I dove for a corner. This turned out to be a smart idea when I saw what had produced that roar.

It was Kintaro.

More precisely, it was Kintaro holding a bloody and bruised Parsek, along with a sparking Markus X.

Waiting until the man-beast walked past, I lept onto him the moment that he spotted Neksus. Charging the energy net launcher in my chest, I held on as the Tigrar Shokan tried his hardest to remove me from his back. By the time he could reach his spare pair of arms back to grab me, I had fully charged the net launcher and released it, the pulsing green energy soaring through the Tigrar's body. Letting go, I watched as the cat-like beast fell apart, his body disintegrating into dozens of large lobes of flesh.

Looking down at the gory remains, I immediately noticed that something was missing: Markus!

* * *

**SKARLET'S POV**

Staying against the wall as Kintaro entered the dungeon, I waited for Cyrax to make his inevitable move against the cat-like beast. As he did, and Kintaro's remains fell on the floor in a mess of blood and tattered flesh, I dashed in, swiftly stealing the still unconscious armor-wearing warrior away with me.

As we left through the entrance of Sho Dai's fortress, I heard a groan from Markus as he started to wake up. Turning his armored head to face me, I saw the lights flicker as his armor reactivated, shortly before his face was exposed by the armor. "Ugh... What hit me? I feel like I just got run over by a diesel locomotive..."

Taking advantage of his seeming deliriousness, I did something that, truthfully, I had waited to do for some time now...

I kissed him.

My crimson lips touched his faded red ones as I passionately forced myself into his grasp, the excitement and thrill of having taken some of Kintaro's blood still running high. My tongue had no trouble gaining dominance, but it was Markus's conscience that got the better of him.

Opening his eyes wide, he attempted to pull back. "Skarlet, what the heck are you doing? Don't you know I already have a girlfriend?"

I reluctantly pulled back, my adrenaline unsatisfied. "Markus, I need someone... Someone to be close to. A partner, if you will. You're the only person I can think of who fits the bill, at the moment. The only other one I can think of is dead, and you're the closest thing to him I have."

The Earthrealm warrior freed himself from my grasp as I continued. "Don't you see? Since the first moment we met, when you decapitated me and I called it even with a smack across your face, I've grown to love you. I really can't function properly without you. It's almost like your training changed me after I got back from Earthrealm..."

Taking a step back, Markus raised his hand up. "Look, Skarlet, I'm not going to deny it. You're strong, deadly, and admittedly quite sexy. However, I'm already in a relationship with your Empress. It would be just... Wrong for me to betray her trust and make out with you. If you want to talk to Mileena about this whole loving me thing, maybe she can give you some advice on what to do, but right now? No."

A scowl began to grow on my face, but I managed to suppress it as I continued walking. The Earthrealm warrior gave me a quick panicked glance as he followed along. "Wait... Where are you going?"

"The Desert. Our forces have reinforced themselves there. You would be wise to come with me."

"And what about what I said? You going to talk to Mileena?"

A devilish smile grew on my face as I thought up a plan. "Let me put it this way... Your manhood will be frozen solid very soon."


	7. Only Room for One in this Party!

**IMPERIAL PALACE, JAPAN**

**GLACE'S POV**

Here I was once again in the gardens with Sapphire as she slid between the rows of spice and bamboo. While I did not want to admit it, she was beginning to frustrate me quite a bit.

"Mistress," I called out, "I believe we should return to your room. You are not safe here, not while the remnants of these invaders still travel around the world."

The female noble let me catch up to her, the black cocktail dress she was wearing untouched by the muddied plants she had shoved her way through. "Relax, Glace... I can take care of myself, you know."

I sighed, crossing my arms over the white leotard I wore. "Don't give me a reason to throw snowballs at you, mistress."

As she turned back around, my mistress was hit in the chest by a large ball of ice that sent her flying across the gardens into a small field of parsley. Turning, I quickly spotted the one responsible for this.

Wearing blue attire I clearly recognized as that of one of the ninja clans, the hair of this woman seemed to emanate pure ice vapor, the hair itself jagged and sharp. From her mask, puffs of similar vapor were emitted as she formed a dagger of ice in her hands, throwing it towards me as I ducked to avoid the strike.

In a flash, the air around both of us grew cold as my black pupils bored through the other woman, her blue eyes staring into my own white pair. "Who are you?"

The cold-artificing woman barely moved her torso as she and I circled one another. "I am Frost, and you are nothing more than a pathetic cryomancing copy!"

Crossing my arms, I cocked a blue-black eyebrow at Frost. "Excuse me? I've had these snow powers for a lot longer than you have, evidently. Now leave! You are not welcome in the Emperor's Imperial Gardens, especially not around his niece!"

Frost sneered at me, the cold air clearly emanating from her mask. "I do what I want, where I want, when I want, how I want, to whoever I want, and a pathetic worm like you isn't going to stop me."

I gave a slight nod before getting in a fighting stance. "Very well then."

Frost laughed as she produced a pair of ice daggers in her hands. It was clear to me that this would be a fight to the death on her part as snow began to build up around my fists, eventually forming into a very dense casing surrounding my hands as we advanced towards one another. Throwing one of the ice daggers at me, she formed another one in her hand as I swung at the overglorified icicle, shattering it with the dense snow surrounding my bludgeoning fists. Quickly surrounding myself with snow, I teleported to the other side of the cocky Cryomancer and reappeared in a swirl of flakes as I kidney-punched Frost, the snow surrounding my fists dissipating as I began to press on a nerve in her neck. Frost seemed to suffer a seizure of a sort before falling to the ground, the ice daggers formerly in her hands shattering upon impact with the dirt as she looked at me with a worried expression, the mask having fallen from her face.

"Please... Please don't kill me! I merely suffer from... Intermittent Explosive Disorder, that's it! I didn't willingly want to do anything to you!"

Stepping towards the fallen warrior, I slammed my foot down on her stomach, staring at her with the white irises of my apparently soulless eyes. "I'm not going to kill you. Simply get up and get out of my palace."

The ice ninja nodded and turned to leave, when Sapphire's dagger flew through the air, hitting her in the back. The poison barbs the jagged blade had put into it immediately began to work their toll on the Cryomancer, and Frost spasmed in death before lying motionless, her hair beginning to thaw as I turned to Sapphire. She stealthily dashed forward, retrieving her blade from in between Frost's shoulder blades before looking at me. I immediately noticed that her hands were bleeding, and quickly removed my armbands, tying them around my mistress's palms to stop the flow of blood. "What happened to you, mistress?"

"Nothing, Glace. I merely cut my hands on a piece of bamboo I grazed while running over here."

I crossed my arms. "Sapphire, I've been around you for long enough to tell when you are lying. Now sincerely, how did you hurt your hands?"

Scowling at me with a frustrated look, she answered truthfully from what I could tell. "I don't know, okay? Just get me a pair of gloves and I will use them to stop the bleeding."

Nodding, I quickly pressed my snowy white hands to her own, encasing them in a thin layer of snow that would numb and protect them while we went back to the palace to find a more permanent solution.

* * *

**SERINA'S POV**

As the snow ninja fought Frost, I watched as Nitya and Lamia stunned and restrained an unaware Sapphire. Looking at me, the princess watched as my appearance changed to that of her own, and though she tried to scream, Lamia stopped her.

"Now now, dear princess, you'll be among good company soon enough. Serina, you know what to do."

I nodded and turned towards the warring women before I felt something placed in my hand... It was a dagger. Turning, I spotted Nitya as she gave me a truly emotionless glare.

"Leave no one alive who could reveal our deception."

As my creator and the others returned to Outworld through a portal, I juggled the small blade a bit before throwing it between the shoulder blades of the retreating Frost. The Cryomancer's body trembled as she fell to the ground. Ignoring that, I extricated the poisoned dagger from her back.

As the two of us talked, we eventually decided that the best option would be to return to the Imperial Palace, in order to treat my 'injuries.' I knew, though, that they were less injuries and more a defect from my creation process. Though I was perfectly normal when I was in my original form, whenever I imitated someone, my hands would constantly be bloody. A lack of the sorceress's ability in my opinion, but then again, she had brought me to life with flesh, blood, and the soul of a woman.

As we walked through the rows of exotic and calming plants, a white collection of energy emerged from the ground directly in front of us. I and the snow ninja guarding me watched as within the beam, a figure began to form, one that solidified itself as a raven-haired woman wearing a noble's outfit. Glace immediately prepared to fight the mysterious stranger, but the woman raised her hand in a show of peace.

"Hold, Glace... I mean you and Sapphire no harm."

The snow ninja had no idea how the mysterious woman knew her name, and 'mine' as well, but this did not bother her. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

The magic noblewoman smiled. "I am Atraya, and I have come to gather together Earthrealm's defenders for the coming battle against the Forces of Darkness in Raiden's stead. Both of you are among them."

As Glace and Atraya talked, I mulled over this new information. _"This is a new development... I will inform Nitya and Lamia when I get the opportunity to. Perhaps there is more to be learned from this..."_

Turning my head towards the two other women, I broke up their conversation. "Well... Are we going to get back to the others now, or must I wait for both of you to finish talking?"

Glace gave me a surprised look as Atraya raised her hand. A large volume of white light surrounded the three of us as the gardens slowly faded away...

* * *

**GLACE'S POV**

As I watched, the surroundings changed from that of the Imperial Gardens to a dungeon. I was firmly surprised as myself, Sapphire, and the mysterious Atraya found ourselves standing in the remains of what I knew to be a Shokan. Spotting a bloody body shortly outside the circle of gore, I quickly ran to it, finding a warrior dressed in a karategi with a black belt.

"Raiden? What happened to your hat?"

Groaning, the young man got up, his attire splotched with speckles of blood. "Who's Raiden? I'm Parsek." He held a hand out to me, which I cautiously accepted.

"I'm Glace. This is my mistress, Sapphire. The woman in the noble's attire is named Atraya."

Atraya turned to eye both of us, and it was then that I noticed her completely white eyes. In the darkness of the gardens, she appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary human, but now that I saw her in the torchlight of the dungeon, I could tell she had some distinct differences. The blue-tinted skin gave me a possible idea as to what she was, but I would not bother asking her now.

"We must gather the surviving Earthrealm warriors. If we wish to have any chance of defeating the Forces of Darkness, all of us must make a stand here."

Focusing on Parsek, Atraya continued. "I know there are more warriors than merely this... Where are they?"

A ninja wearing full black attire spoke up. "One of them was taken to the camp of Empress Mileena. The other two are in the tunnels, eliminating members of the Black Dragon clan. The leader of this operation is one of the two in the tunnels, and if there are more warriors, she would know of them."

The mysterious woman turned and prepared to leave, but a yellow cyborg stopped her.

"If I may ask, where is Raiden? Was he not the one whose visions were to lead us against Outworld?"

Looking over her shoulder, Atraya quickly responded before disappearing.

"He is... around."


	8. Bloody Passion

**MARKUS X'S POV**

The heat of the Desert was practically unbearable for any normal human being. Fortunately for myself, though, I was wearing armor that, even in these blowtorch-like temperatures, caused me to feel like I was playing in the snow wearing just my undies. Letting the helmet's frontpiece retract into the rest of the armor, I looked around the seemingly endless wasteland of sand, sand, and more sand. Crossing my arms as I continued to follow Skarlet, I began the inevitable complaining.

"Are you sure this is the right place? I have the strangest feeling right now..."

Hearing Skarlet say something, I cocked an eyebrow before realizing she was... laughing? "Hey, what's so funny?"

Turning to look at me, I could see that her exposed face was blushing, her lips wide apart in laughter as she looked at me.

"Think carefully about what you said, Markus. Where do you think that strange feeling is from my point of view, hmm?" It was then that I realized what she meant by that... Looking down to make sure that I wasn't falling prey to her power of suggestion, I felt no pressure down there from the attractive woman leading me to Mileena's camp.

Pointing towards a dune, she finally gave me the answer I was looking for. "The camp is located directly across those dunes. Don't be surprised if we run into a party of Tarkatans on our way down there... This place is as secure as we could possibly make it."

After a good ten minute hike, we reached the top of the dune, and I gazed over the 'camp.' Unsurprisingly, there was nothing there. With nothing better to do, I facepalmed, wincing in pain as the metal gauntlet impacted the front of my head. "I knew there was nothing here!"

A small bit of blood trickled down the corner of my face from a sharp edge of the gauntlet cutting my temple. As I stood there, I noticed Skarlet suddenly grow very rigid and silent. Raising an eyebrow at this unusual behavior, I came up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Erm... you okay?"

Slowly turning to face me, her eyes seemed to focus on the blood slowly sliding down my cheek. Stepping forward until the two of us were pressed together, her red eyes bored into my own yet again.

"The blood... It intoxicates me..."

Before I knew what was happening, Skarlet had pressed her lips to my face. I could feel her tongue run over the blood that came from my head, licking it up as though it were ambrosia of the gods or something like that. After a minute or so, my wound stopped bleeding, and the bloodspawn pulled back just long enough for me to see the red smears of my blood on her face before she pressed her lips against my own, her arms again forcing her body against mine. That 'strangest feeling' I'd almost been tricked into feeling began to actually occur, and it was getting extremely uncomfortable down there.

"Mmph... Skarlet... Please stop... That 'feeling' is starting to hurt big time."

Finally relaxing, the nymphomaniacal blood ninja backed off, relaxing her hold on me. "Sorry... Just got caught up in the moment there. Blood's kind of a turn on for me, so..."

Ignoring her, I began my march up and over the next dune, and as I looked over to see what was on the other side...

...there was still nothing.

All I saw was a clearly crumbling ruin of some sort. "Skarlet, you got us lost, didn't you?"

Pointing forward, she and I continued to move down the dune, and as we reached the halfway point, something amazing happened.

Where there had just been an empty expanse in this barren wasteland, there was now a camp filled with people bustling about. Dashing to the perimeter of said camp, I found myself confronting a welcoming party.

All four I could tell were Tarkatan. Two wore simple black outfits, one wore a set of spiked armor similar to Baraka's, and yet another wore the strangest thing of all: armor that looked just like my own. The only differences I saw were a solid yellow glass faceplate, revealing his gleaming yellow eyes and gargantuan maw, and the fact that there was no armor covering his lower arms. I quickly remembered why that was as the Tarkatan leader released the blades in his arms, preparing to attack me.

Before such an epic amount of violence could occur, though, Skarlet intervened. "Relax, Makis. I've just brought Mileena's boyfriend back to her. You don't want to be her next main course as punishment for killing him, do you?"

Makis ignored her. "The Empress is waiting for you."

As myself and the blood ninja moved through the camp, I found plenty of Goro-like Shokans and Tarkatans looking at me in surprise. Eventually reaching the camp, I noticed that Mileena's tent was guarded by a ninja wearing green. Pausing to wait for Skarlet, I raised an eyebrow at him. "You remind me of Reptile..."

The ninja removed his mask, revealing a scaly reptilian face. "I am Reptile."

Taking a step back, I looked to Skarlet for an explanation. "Reptile met a female Saurian. Apparently, them being close to one another makes them look more human. I don't know..."

Reptile raised the curtain leading into the tent, and as I ducked underneath it, I surveyed the belongings in the room. Sure enough, there was a dresser, a bed fit for two, and on that bed, my beloved Mileena. Mustering all of my accent training, I gave her the summation of my feelings on the reunion.

"Hello, sweetie..."

* * *

**SKARLET'S POV**

I moaned as the sounds of passion emanated from within the tent. I could barely resist turning into a pile of blood as I visualized all the kinky and naughty things they must have been doing to one another...

After what seemed like ages, the two came out: Mileena in her minimal outfit, and Markus in a t-shirt and boxers. "So, babe, where's the armor? I know you kept it with you, if what the Tarkatans are wearing says anything about it..."

Mileena pointed to some smaller tents a good distance away. "All of our weapons are in those tents. Your armor is among them."

As Markus left to put his armor on, I tapped the Empress on the shoulder. "A moment, if I may?"

Motioning me into her tent, Mileena jumped onto the bed, looking at me with a friendly smile. "What do you need, Skarlet?"

I felt a bit uncomfortable with my face exposed, and as such, I stabbed myself with one of my blades, my body reshaping itself into its original outfit, with mask.

"Well... How do I put this... I have a sort of like for your boyfriend. I want to be with him, but I wasn't sure if that was something you wanted..."

A stoic look came to my Empress's face as she stood up, looking at me eye to eye for a moment before she responded. "I utilize my skills for seduction on a regular basis. If Markus can tolerate my actions in that regard, I have no problem with you and him in a secondary relationship, so long as you do not directly interfere with my own."

"Besides," she added, her Tarkatan grin reappearing, "we could always use another person for our little escapades. I have heard that three-way relations are better than simple monogamy... Perhaps we can find out soon whether or not that is the case..."

Bowing, I began to back away. "Thank you so much, Empress! I will prepare to... Enjoy the benefits you've gifted me with..."


	9. Do You See What I See?

**SONYA'S POV**

As myself and Gemini moved further down the tunnel, we guessed that there was a possible trap waiting for us, courtesy of that bastard Kano. Entering into a room that seemed to be the central nexus of all the tunnels, I motioned for Gemini to stop before she could trigger any booby traps.

Unfortunately, she was still rather new at hands-on missions... Stepping on a pressure plate, I heard a small clink as a canister of paralyzing agent fell from the ceiling before exploding in our faces, freezing our muscles in position as a laugh I recognized very well came from inside the darkness.

"Well, well, well... Look what we've got here! Sonya Blade and Agent Gemini... Two of the special forces' finest women, in more ways than one..." I swore I could feel the heat of his eye laser staring at my breasts, but the only way I saw fit to respond was with a shudder.

Grabbing both of us by the arms, Kano dragged us further into his hideout. Racks of Russian and Chinese weapons lined the walls of the chamber, and a small desk with several screens on it was in the corner, though I of course couldn't see any info on them. Sitting us down in crude wooden chairs, the Black Dragon leader bound our arms and legs to the seats as he smirked at us.

"You two are gonna have a hell of a hard time getting yourselves outta this situation." He frowned before returning to his diabolical smile. "You killed No Face, which is a relief... One less minion to have to share my profit with. I suppose I should show my gratitude."

I could see that he was looking uncomfortable. "Don't worry, ladies. This right here is every bit as hard as my implants."

I tried desperately to scream, shout, or make some noise as Kano began to unzip his pants, but before either of us could be brutally humiliated by the disgusting Aussie, I heard a noise.

A flash of light filled the area as a figure materialized... From what I could tell, she looked sort of like a female version of Raiden, minus the hat and head covering. Pointing to Kano, she gave a loud and resonating shout.

"Release these members of the Forces of Light!"

Kano pulled out his butterfly knives, preparing to fight the woman. "The only person I listen to is myself! Now get the hell out of the Black Dragon base!"

Before he could even make a throw, however, my worst enemy found himself in the grip of a bluish aura before he was hurled at high speed down a tunnel opposite the one we had come in on. The same blue glow washed over us, and I watched the ropes around our arms and legs disappear. Both of us could move again, as well.

Standing up, I turned to Gemini, intending to notify her of our need to search, when a white light began to surround us...

* * *

**ATRAYA'S POV**

I had done what I intended to do. The two members of the Forces of Light had been rescued from 'indentured servitude' at the hands of Kano and his fellow Black Dragons. I now had one more to personally recover, but before I could proceed, I required information of Sonya regarding the whereabouts of another surviving Earthrealm warrior.

Before I could utter a single word, however, the Special Forces member shoved me. "What the hell did you do that for? We were about to shatter the Black Dragon into a million pieces before you whisked us away! Who are you, anyways?"

I answered with a veiled sense of truth. "I am Atraya, one who must gather together the Forces of Light for the inevitable battle against the Forces of Darkness. If I do not, all of the realms could be destroyed by the threat that currently masterminds events on the dark side."

The blind man, whom I knew to be Kenshi, stepped forward. His wounds were severe, and as such, I channeled energy into him, healing his body to a point where he could inform those in front of him of the nature of this threat.

"Sonya... The Emperor, Sho Dai, has made an allegiance with Quan Chi. Together, the two of them intend to conquer the realms in the name of the Forces of Darkness. I believe that someone named Shinnok was also a major part of their plan."

I froze. Shinnok was free of the Netherrealm? This made me focus even more intently on gathering the Forces of Light. Only with them allying together could the fallen Elder God be defeated... It was now that I felt I should act.

"Sonya Blade... Where did Raiden send Johnny Cage?"

Surprised, Sonya responded with all she knew. "He's in some place called Seido... Shao Kahn's death caused some pretty weird things to happen to him."

Nodding, I again prepared to go and retrieve the Earthrealm warrior, but Cyrax stopped me. "What about Markus? Skarlet took him."

"Markus X is of less importance to the Forces of Light than Johnny Cage or Liu Kang. We will retrieve him before the inevitable fight, but not now."

Raising a hand, I left for the inevitable search in Seido for Johnny Cage. I only hoped that there would be no interruptions...

* * *

**KENSHI'S POV**

While I admittedly was glad to be back with members of the OIA, and the Forces of Light in general, their presence did not calm me down. Though Shang Tsung was dead and the souls of my ancestors were free to rest in peace, I still felt as though I had more to accomplish.

For now though, I stayed silent, waiting to hear what Sonya wished for us to do. She was the commanding officer in this field of battle, after all. After a short silence, she spoke into her wrist communicator. "This is Major Sonya Blade. Open the portal at our location. We have some new friends, and a goal we need to get accomplished."

Pausing as the portal powered up on the other side, I could feel the distortion as the space between realms was torn into, allowing travel between Outworld and Earthrealm. Stepping through the portal, I prepared to hear an update on the state of my mission upon my official return to Special Forces headquarters. From what Atraya had said, the battle was just beginning for us.

With the unorthodox group of allies slowly trudging through the purplish horizon, we returned to a throng of modest cheers and medics, the latter of which helped myself, Parsek, and Sapphire to the hospital portion of the room.

While I had been mostly healed by Atraya, I chose to stay behind and observe the treatment of the other two, as my vision could see what the doctors never could.

Focusing, my energy rebuilding after the weeks spent in an Outworld cell, I felt through the chi of the two warriors. While Parsek's was composed strongly and with great will, though I did sense weakness from apparent internal injuries, Sapphire's was... erratic to say the least. Her aura felt unnatural, distorted in a way. While the only thing I could think of as a reason for such a thing was sorcery, Sapphire seemed to show none of the signs of being possessed, puppeteered, or altered by a powerful sorcerer. Aside from the strange chi, she seemed completely normal.

I did notice, however, that her hands were bleeding. Oddly enough, she had no lesions or cuts on them for the life-carrying liquid to be exiting from. The doctors, unaware of what should be done, simply gave the young princess a pair of leather gloves, to prevent the blood from causing her hands to be slippery.

As she stepped out, Parsek following her, I made a mental note to myself. _"Keep your sights on her, Kenshi. While she may seem normal, there is more to this girl than evidently appears..."_


	10. Three-Way Dance

**MARKUS X'S POV**

_As I resided on the Empress's bed, relaxing as I waited for her to complete a meeting with Goro and Baraka, I heard the flap of the tent opening. Lazily opening my eyes, I expected to see my girlfriend in her delightfully scanty attire. However, this was not the case._

_Instead, the woman who had just entered the tent was Skarlet! I sat up, eying the minimal attire the blood ninja wore, as she slinked into the bed with me, discarding her mask, weapons, and... Other items._

_Snuggling next to me, the well-proportioned woman began to passionately kiss me, drawing our unclad bodies closer together as I struggled to resist. "What did I tell you about..."_

_Skarlet held a finger to my lips, her own curled into a devilishly seductive smile. "Say one more word, and your blood becomes my next meal."_

_Hearing that distinctively murderous threat, I froze in place, every single muscle in my body staying taut as the blood ninja began to have her way with me._

_Before anything especially naughty occurred, though, Mileena returned. I saw a surprisingly amused look on her face as she watched her loyal assassin plunge her tongue between my teeth. I raised a hand, trying to indicate to my girlfriend that I was being forced into this against my will, but she merely stripped down and joined us in the bed._

_"Now now... If I seduce people and you do not worry about it, why should I feel the same way? Besides, this threesome could do a little spicing up to our relationship."_

_The Tarkatan face reappeared on Mileena as she dove into the fray, starting a series of passionate love-makings that stretched on into the night..._

Sitting up, I smiled. That was a pretty awesome dream, but why was I fantasizing about something so... So taboo? Eh, no matter, it was just a dream anyways...

Stretching my arms out, I felt two bodies next to me. Already guessing what I was about to see, my viewpoint shifted to show a naked Mileena and Skarlet, the sultry blood ninja to my left and my girlfriend to my right.

Both of them woke up and looked at me as I accidentally bumped them, Skarlet's red eyes penetrating into my left eye as Mileena's yellow ones peered into my right.

It was only obvious that I did the one thing most men would do in this sort of situation.

I facepalmed.

"Um... Wow... Er..." My mind was still trying to process the actions that had gone on last night. "Wait, so I slept with my girlfriend's bodyguard, and not only did my girlfriend have no problem with it, but she also joined in on the fun?"

Skarlet and Mileena both gave weak nods, evidently still tired from last evening as a newfound smile broke out on my face, my arms draped around their shoulders. "I love Outworld..."

* * *

**REPTILE'S POV**

Hearing a noise in the tent as I stood rigid at guard duty, I watched Markus open the tent flap, his worn and dulled armor showing his surprising skill as a veteran warrior. I had orders, and I would carry them out.

Stepping forward, I motioned to the Earthrealm warrior, getting his presence as he came over. "Yeah, Rep? What do you need?"

Focusing as hard as I could on creating comprehensible speech, I responded. "Empresssss Mileena hasssss ordered me and my mate, Khameleon, to be your bodyguardsssss during your ssssstay here." I attempted to make my speech clear, but could not help stressing my Ss. I blamed my reptilian form for that.

Markus seemed somewhat amused. "You two are my bodyguards? No offense, but I really don't need them... I've got all the heat I need right here." He pounded his chestplate to emphasize his feeling of self-protection.

Giving off a distinct pheromone, capable of being picked up solely by fellow Saurians, I stood, my arms crossed in surprise. "Are you sssssure that you do not need any bodyguardsssss?"

As Markus was about to respond, he fell flat on his face, his exposed face nose-diving into the sand. Getting up, coughing and rubbing at his eyes, he turned to see what had hit him before being smacked across the face by an invisible force he attempted to swing at before the attacker left her invisibility.

Dressed in the common female ninja attire, a grey variant of one of Mileena's old outfits, my mate shimmered like a see-through mirror before reverting to her Saurian form, which she found to be more to her liking.

"Markusssss, I would like for you to meet my mate."

That the attacker was another Saurian, and a female one no less, seemed to surprise Markus as he raised his hand to his face.

My mate, in proper Saurian fashion, held her hand out to Markus, who cautiously shook it. What he did not expect was the squeeze Khameleon gave him, an extremely firm handshake being an introductory sign of strength in the Saurian culture.

"Ow... Didn't expect that hard of a handshake. Nice to meet you, Miss..."

"Khameleon."

Markus nodded, the introductions now out of the way as I again asked him the question.

"Ssssso, consssssidering the fact that Khameleon ssssslipped through your defensssssesssss, and could have killed you had ssssshe wanted to, do you ssssstill doubt having need of bodyguardsssss?"

Markus shook his head. "You're hired. I'm just glad she's on my side," pointing to my mate, "otherwise I'd probably need to put that blasted freezing armor again. Stupid oversize..."

As I gave a humorous hiss in response, a Tarkatan leader stepped towards us. "Mileena stated last night that we were to prepare for the attack on the Outworld fortress soon. I felt that, as you were resting, you should be informed."

Markus nodded before following the Tarkatan to the meeting with us following. This would be a true test of our forces' might against the despicable usurping Shadow Priest...

* * *

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Surrounding the ash-filled firepit, I eyed the warriors who currently sat around the circle. From memory, I noticed Ermac, Goro, Sheeva, Baraka, and Makis. Unusually, Skarlet was already here, and Reptile and Khameleon had both followed me. Assumedly, the only one left was Mileena.

As my girlfriend arrived, I noticed she was wearing a new outfit, one similar to Khameleon's 'human' attire, but without any lacing up in the middle. Though a decent amount of undercleavage was shown, similar to the attire she wore before we first had relations, the outfit was still one-piece, the bottom half a lot larger and covering the midriff.

Sitting on a gilded chair, the Empress motioned for the meeting to begin as the fire was lit. Scooting a bit closer to Skarlet so the smoke didn't get in my face, we began to discuss ideas for how to assault Sho Dai's fortress.

"I believe that only a mass of all our warriors are capable of breaking their defenses." Goro's strategy appeared to be simple: brute force.

"I agree with Goro," concurred Baraka. "My blades have craved flesh for weeks now, and they cannot go unfulfilled forever!"

Seeing an opportunity for some discourse, I raised my hand, gaining the attention of the others. "While I really like the bloodlust you guys have, pounding away at their forces is a bad idea, especially since we're outnumbered. Why not send in a team of our finest warriors into the throne room to confront Sho Dai and his minions in Mortal Kombat?"

Makis raised his eyebrows. "Perhaps your plan and Goro's could be coalesced... What if the bulk of our army engaged Sho Dai's, while the lack of protection gave our elite assassins the opportunity to slip in undetected? Then we withdraw, and in the time it takes for the enemy to return to the fortress, Sho Dai is dead, and our forces are gone before they can be boxed in!"

I had to admit, Makis was quite the tactician, picking apart both of our ideas to make a better one. Mileena seemed to think so as well. "An excellent plan... Who volunteers to enter the fortress and end this conflict?"

My hand shot up, and I noticed Skarlet roll her eyes at me. "Very well, Markus... Who else?"

Ermac stood up. "I and the Others wish to commit to this fight."

Reptile and Khameleon were already standing. "We mussssst protect Markusssss on your ordersssss, Empresssss. We ssssshall go too."

Skarlet paused before standing up, a hand on her hip. "I'm game."

Unsurprisingly, Makis stood as well. "With your permission, mistress, I would like to be the one to fully draw out our strategy. Baraka, Goro, and Sheeva will all likely enjoy their bloody battle against the Tigrars and the Centaurs."

Mileena nodded. "Very well, but I insist that Markus accompany you. I believe that his knowledge of equipment may prove useful in devising the opening attack."

Though his excitement seemed to have worn off, Makis still nodded before leaving the circle, myself following him hopefully to cooperate on the planning. That is, if he wasn't one of those stuffy controlling types...


	11. One Missing Cog

**SONYA'S POV**

Well... Things were damn sure getting interesting now. A mix of warriors from various different places, with differing mentalities and reasons, all working together to prevent this... Armageddon. Turning to Kenshi, I figured that he would have the most likely answer.

"Kenshi, what's this armageddon-like battle Atraya was talking about between the Forces of Light and Darkness?"

The sword-wielding warrior focused, blue energy emanating from his hands as the sword balanced itself between them.

"There is an ancient prophecy in the land of Edenia. The prophecy speaks of a crater where the Forces of Light and the Forces of Darkness will have their final battle. There was more, but I received an incomplete account of the tale."

With a frustrated look on my face for getting practically nowhere with a goddamn incomplete story, I turned to Gemini. "Well... I think we have another person to call up for the Forces of Light."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? He was lucky that we could repair his skin, and I don't even want to try and guess how scarred his mind likely was..."

"He's the two-time champion of Mortal Kombat, Gemini. I think he can handle a simple situation like this."

Stepping towards a hallway, I motioned to a soldier. "Get my office phone hooked up. I have a call to make..."

* * *

**LIU KANG'S POV**

The phone vibrated in my pocket. I had no clue who to expect... No one had called me since Shao Kahn's attempt to merge the realms. Seeing that the number was withheld, I felt that this was a very important call.

Lifting the phone to my ear, I heard silence. "Hello?"

Suddenly, a whistle blared in my ear, followed by a feminine sounding voice. "Congratulations! You've just won a free trip to the Caribbean, courtesy of Castaway Cruises! Please fill out a short survey to claim your ticket on the SS Sun Princess!"

Giving an emotionless look at my phone, the surgery to repair my face having made it difficult to smile, I responded. "I know it is you, Sonya. No need to shroud your identity from me."

The voice on the other end of the phone changed, becoming a lot less staccato and more fluent. "Sorry, just had to make sure it was you."

"Security is a wise thing to keep close... Why have you called?"

"The OIA needs your help to..."

At the acronym 'OIA,' I had already made my decision. "I am sorry, Sonya, but I cannot help you. I am fortunate to be alive, let alone capable of keeping my body healthy, considering the damage to my chi from Raiden's attack. I feel that risking my life on something such as this may result in more harm and suffering with the same ultimate ending, something I am all too familiar of."

She sounded desperate. "Liu, it's been over half a year since you got injured. Doctors cleared you for return to the Wu Shi Academy three months ago. You've been actively retraining for two, and even when you were in a hospital bed, you still practiced with your fireballs. We need you as the Champion of Mortal Kombat to help save Earthrealm in these dire times."

I struggled, but stayed resolute. "The answer is still no, Sonya."

Silence followed before the Special Forces member said something I was truly shocked by.

"What if I told you Kitana was alive?"

My eyes widened, my neck tended, and my body began to course with adrenaline as I heard the name of my deceased girlfriend. "What? How?"

"From what we've heard from Parsek, a recent recruit, she was spotted, along with Jade and Tanya, guarding the Outworld fortress. I'm guessing she was put under some kind of spell after her resurrection. You're probably the only way we can bring her back, so I'll ask again. Will you help us?"

My mind firmly made up, I gave her an answer I knew she would want to hear. "I will be at Special Forces headquarters as soon as I can dress in my combat attire. As well, I will be bringing a student of mine, one who will find this useful as training."

Shutting the phone, my thoughts quickly went to the attire I would wear, and as expected, I wore my usual choice of pants and a headband. Instead of the outfit being red-accented, however, I chose a leafy green color, symbolizing my quest to return to harmony with the outside world after the end of the invasion. Speaking loud and clear so my student could hear me, I gave my notice. "Kai, we are needed by the Special Forces. Come with me."

As though we were easily detected, a portal began to open in front of us, the purplish rift turning stable as we stepped through it, leading directly to the heart of the Special Forces base...

* * *

**SONYA'S POV**

I watched as Liu Kang, the champion of Mortal Kombat, stepped down from the portal. Following him was a darker-skinned man with white body tattoos, Almost like tiger stripes. This, I guessed, was Kai.

Stepping up to the Shaolin warrior, I couldn't help but notice the white right eye, scarred from the lightning of Raiden's palms, as I saluted him. In return, he replied with a formal Shaolin greeting.

"Glad you two could make it. That makes only two members of the Forces of Light left that we need to get."

As if on cue, the white light appeared in the middle of the room, Atraya materializing with a man I recognized very well.

"Heya, sweetcheeks..."

For all the training he went through, it didn't seem to mean a damn thing to his personality. He had removed his name tattoo, dressed in more formal Seidan attire, and was even meditating from what I'd heard, but I knew that would never stop the lovable bastard from being the cocky smartass we all knew and loved.

"Watch it, Cage... I wouldn't want to have to cuff you."

"Cuff me? You can do a hell of a lot more than that, like, I dunno... Lemme tap that..."

I cut him off, directing my attention to Atraya. "Well, what do we do now? Go get Markus before leveling the Forces of Darkness?"

The mysterious woman nodded. "Indeed, however we do not yet know where he is located. If we did, I would be able to begin a search for him."

"We'll, he's in Outworld, we know that. The question is, where?"

Atraya carefully reasoned his location out. "He is most likely either with his girlfriend, or with one of her subordinates. Outworld is a dangerous place, and I doubt he would be allowed to roam freely through a landscape he neither is familiar with nor knowledgeable of. Find Mileena and you shall find Markus. It is that simple."

I thought about her 'words of wisdom.' True, but that still left a huge gap in the logic because none of us knew where Mileena was either. "Maybe if we wait near the fortress, he'd eventually show up. I'm guessing Mileena wants a fight with that Shadow Priest, and since she hasn't had it yet, I'm guessing that it'll be in the near future. We can snag him then."

"Your plan carries enough merit, Sonya Blade, that I fully believe it shall work. Once you verify his location, say my name and I shall transport myself to your location I order to retrieve him. He must be with the Forces of Light, otherwise the Forces of Darkness shall claim him and take him as their own."

With reluctance, I prepared to go through the portal, when Kenshi stopped me. "Sonya, I will be able to sense him from farther away. He also has no struggle with me, and I do not even know who he is. As such, when we meet, he will not suspect me."

I nodded, saluting Kenshi as he stepped through the face of the portal. God, I hoped he found Markus soon... Then we could end this wait and begin the attack on the threats against Earthrealm...


	12. Our Everyday Enenra

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Following the surprisingly intelligent Tarkatan to his tent, I sat down on a bench across from him. Makis and I were evidently in charge of turning his concept into a reality.

Pulling out a map of the fortress's defenses, Makis took a box of colored iron needles and began to place them into the paper. Paying attention, I realized he was marking specific points on the map, most likely as a sign of where groups of enemies or fortifications were.

"So... What's the key here?"

Makis looked at me, not saying anything.

"What do the colors represent?"

He now understood. "Blue represents weapons such as catapults or fortified arrow launchers. Red represents elite infantry, and yellow represents the generic soldiers we will likely run into."

Over the course of half an hour, with methodical pin-pushing into the thick yellowed paper, I began to see a layout of the fortress's guard, and it was not easy. Catapults, arrow launchers, tar pits, and other nefarious-looking items ringed the palace. Around the one accessible area(the main entrance) were many yellow pins, along with a few red ones. I assumed that this gate guard would disperse if attacked.

Questioning how our group was to enter through the outer ring of soldiers undetected, Makis pointed with his blade as a small part of the map. "There are many crags and caves to the south. Hiding there until the soldiers pass us should allow us to slip through. Once that is complete, we can sneak our way through the nearly deserted entrance and slip in."

Remembering how few strong forces we had, I realized that if this began as an all-out brawl, our forces would be slaughtered and there wouldn't be enough time for us to make it out again after killing Sho Dai. It was then that I was inspired by a story I knew very well.

"If there are any narrow pathways through the rocks that lead to the castle, we could attack there and keep the enemies' forces from attacking all at once. That should buy us a few hours, if not days. Greek Earthrealmers famously utilized it against Persians during the battle of Thermopylae."

Makis obliged by pointing to several canyons and mountainous passes leading to the pagoda-like structure. "These canyons lead very close to the fortress. I believe we could break our forces into small units and enter the area that way. It would let us resist the enemy for longer."

I nodded in concurrence. "You think just like I do, Makis."

The Tarkatan General smiled, at least as best he could. "I appreciate the compliment. You are indeed worthy of working with me, your assistance being as helpful as it has been."

Frowning, I continued to work on our plans as the night stretched on. Tomorrow evening, we would attack Outworld's forces and kill Sho Dai...

* * *

**MILEENA'S POV**

The day had come. Within this very set of hours, I would reclaim everything that was mine: my empire, my fortress, and my throne. Sho Dai would, at last, be put to death for his truly despicable and treasonous actions.

As I walked around the fringe of the castle, I heard the sound of shouts coming from some of the guards as a man was brought to me... Though his clothing was horribly shredded and bloodstained, the man himself had suffered no injuries from any battle. His white eyes looked at me, his emotionless face giving me the impression that he was a demigod.

"Empress Mileena, I am Kenshi. I have traveled throughout the realm of Outworld to find Markus X, who Skarlet stole away from the Special Forces. I have come for his safe return to Earthrealm."

Kenshi? I knew he seemed familiar... I had heard the stories of how he became blind after opening a well filled with the souls of his ancestors to get an ancestral sword. However, that I held respect for him as a great warrior did not mean that he would be safe from my sais if he dared to attack me.

"Markus is no longer a pawn in your organization's game, Kenshi. However, once I and my forces have eliminated the Outworld threat, he and I will return to Earthrealm personally and I will speak with the leaders of the Special Forces, to end this nonsense."

The blind swordsman cocked an eyebrow. "Mileena, you do not understand the importance of this! Armageddon is coming, and with all the death and destruction caused by you and your fellow Outworlders, Earthrealm is defenseless! Lord Raiden himself has gone into seclusion to help cope with the grief of harming Liu Kang and being responsible for the many warriors' deaths. Markus is the final key in our army, the Forces of Light. He will be the last one we need to stand a chance against the Forces of Darkness and their leader, Shinnok."

After mulling Kenshi's comments over, I began to laugh. "Earthrealm is of no matter to me, Kenshi. Markus and I will both be in Outworld, safe from whatever devastation may be caused."

However, my smirk quickly turned to alarm. "Mileena, the prophecy was Edenian. It stated that the battle would begin there. As Edenia has not been freed of its merger with Outworld, the battle will begin here. Your realm will be the first to be destroyed by the turmoil of these two armies clashing against one another at full strength. Is that what you truly want? To rule a wasteland full of fire, corpses, and crumbling ruins? If so, then I respect your decision, but remember what I have said to you."

I nodded, and turned to walk away when I felt the swish of Kenshi's sword behind me. However, there was no bite from his blade... I soon heard why as a demonic voice cried out.

* * *

**SMOKE'S POV**

Stealthily lurking in the shadow of a rock, I watched the two foes converse with one another. Even from this reasonable distance, I clearly heard whatever words were being said...

Before I could react, however, a blade slashed through my body. I felt the metal slide entirely through my chest, penetrating my armor before sticking out the back of the smoke that comprised my physical form.

Growling, I lept from my position, extricating the sword from my body. "I'm impressed. You were able to sense me from afar... Tell me, though, why did you carry on if you knew I was listening?"

The blind swordsman's white eyes connected with my red ones. "I feel the tug of Shinnok's influence on you, Smoke. Let me help free you from this..." He took a few steps towards me.

In response, I threw a ball of smoke at him. "Where there is smoke, there is fire! If you wish to do anything to me, you will be burned before you even have a chance!"

Dashing towards the Earthrealm warrior, I quickly switched myself to the other side of him, to catch him by surprise. However, I found myself blocked by Kenshi's katana every time I attempted to punch or chop him. It disgusted me as to how easily he could parry my attack... However, I soon realized that I had an advantage against the sword as I held my hands up, super-heated smoke emanating from them as they began to scald the warrior's exposed flesh.

As I did this, though, a new weapon went through my back. It was Mileena's sais. The momentary distraction of me kicking the hybrid woman allowed Kenshi to focus with his telekinesis on my mind. With minimal protection, I struggled to fight the feeling of dizziness and the urge to sleep, but eventually succumbed to the grey clouding my vision as I passed out...

* * *

Upon awakening, I felt different. The eyes I looked through were computer-generated... Though I quickly worried that I perhaps had become a cyborg, my fears proved unfounded as I felt the lower part of my body, still composed of the smoky essence my demonic form was made of.

"You are awake... Good to know."

Looking around, I saw that I had been returned to some sort of base or fortress... Sitting up, I saw Cyrax, complete in armor, next to me. "Where... Where am I?"

The cyborg looked at me. "You are currently at the Special Forces base. Kenshi returned you here after he failed to regain Markus. I took the liberty of giving your body the helmet of one of the cyborgs, along with the gloves and boots. The helmet has been modified to protect your mind from any attempts to control you, magical or technological."

I raised a gloved hand to my face, feeling the contours of my mask. "I... I remember it now... All of it..."

"What? Remember what?"

I visually went through the memories I had unlocked... The kidnapping, the sacrifice... My opportunity to return and seek vengeance... It was all there.

"My true past..."

I had made up my mind of what I was going to do.

"Cyrax, consider me a part of the Forces of Light. I will help you in order to atone for the wrongs I have committed while under the control of Shinnok."

The cyborg merely nodded as I continued to look over my helmet and gloves. Soon, I would need them...


	13. Triple Threat

**MARKUS X'S POV**

It was time.

I watched as crude war engines were structured and put into place by the Tarkatans and Shokans. Both Reptile and Khameleon were by my side as I oversaw a guard prepare a catapult for loading and launch.

"It will sssssoon be time for usssss to make our move, Markusssss. Let usssss return to Mileena and the othersssss..."

Reptile gave myself and his mate good logic as we all moved to the back of the lines. Standing in between Mileena and Makis, I couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for the men that were likely going to their deaths.

"This is where we must begin the plan..." Makis motioned, his armored body complimenting my own. "While our men set the artillery on the far side of the fortress's perimeter, we must remain here until the enemy has been distracted enough that we can plough through the gates."

I cocked the surprisingly well-preserved pair of Glocks with their double drum magazines. "I'll work with Ermac to nullify any remaining forces that stay near the entrance. Khameleon and Reptile can guard us from any unseen threats, while Skarlet can protect Mileena. I assume Makis can lead us to the throne room..."

The Tarkatan general nodded as I heard a horn sound, the yells and cries of our soldiers rushing to battle drowning out all other noise in the vicinity for a few minutes. Once they poured onto the flatlands, Sho Dai's army came to meet them, the view like that of two ant colonies colliding with one another. His blades out, Makis waved at me and the others. "It is time for us to move!"

Like moths to flame, our small group rushed towards the nearly-deserted fortress entrance. A quartet of masked guards were there to greet us, and I shot one through the eye slits of his mask as Ermac threw another against the stone walls of the palace. It was not difficult for Mileena to avoid the naginata of the third guard before she plunged a sai through his head, shortly before the forth guard me his end at the hands of Skarlet's swords.

With my guns ready to engage any new foes, I stealthily moved to the front of the group, standing directly behind Makis as we walked down a series of hallways leading to the throne room. I motioned everyone to the sides of the door as we prepared to bust in.

"On my mark, okay? That means three, for you non-Earthrealm types... One... Two... Three!"

* * *

**SONYA'S POV**

For me, it was now decision time. I had my army, my group of friends united by a sincere cause to eliminate the Forces of Darkness. From what I could tell, the only thing we could do would be a preemptive strike upon them. If we could negate them while their forces were shattered, then perhaps we would stand a chance against this 'Shinnok' being.

Noticing all the warriors lined up, I prepared to give the order to enter Outworld, when Atraya stopped me.

"Sonya Blade, I do not wish to stop such an early strike, but I feel it may be of assistance if the Protector of Earthrealm were to join us."

I saw Liu Kang's face drop even more than before, and Smoke's erect shoulders relaxed, sitting limply by his sides. "I truly wish to never see this foolishness again. Raiden is responsible for the injuries I sustained, as well as the deaths of my comrades and my best friend, Kung Lao. I fear his addition may only serve to weaken our alliance."

Smoke perked up as well. "Raiden did not act when my own best friend, Kuai Liang, was converted to a mindless cyborg instead of me. He could have stopped both of the attempted conversions, but he chose only one to stop. Why didn't he?"

Before I could give a long-ass speech on how we had to ignore past misgivings and work together to defeat a greater threat, Atraya chose to be the one to respond to their worries.

"Liu Kang, the Elder Gods were not pleased when you attacked the Protector of Earthrealm. However, they knew that you did not understand until the end what was to happen." She then turned to Smoke. "And you! Have you forgotten, Smoke, that every event stated to happen in the universe must be balanced? Raiden did not save Sub-Zero because he could not... Raiden did not save him because the balance of the universe would be upset by this apparently foretold event."

Johnny chose now to interrupt. "Uh, yeah... One problem in your logic, lady. According to Ray-man, I was supposed to get killed by that centaur dude, but him killing that guy didn't do anything to the timeline... What now?" Damn, he was using some impressive logic here...

"Is it not obvious, Johnny Cage? This merely meant that your death would not need to happen in order for you to participate in future events. You surviving has had little, if any effect on the timeline, short of perhaps you and Sonya Blade growing closer."

Johnny liked that, giving a surprisingly carnal smile as I responded with a disapproving frown. "I like the sound of that, baby! So yeah, Sonya, I don't suppose we can maybe have some fun after this is all over, hmm?"

I simply ignored him before turning to Doctor Aschwader. "Open the portal."

As the glowing purple rift illuminated the area, I made it clear as to what my priorities were.

"We're leaving to fight in less than five minutes. If Raiden can join us, then great. If not... Well, that's too bad then."

* * *

**MILEENA'S POV**

Along with the others, I slowly sauntered into the throne room, surveying the area. So many recognizable faces, yet so little time to enjoy them... However, instead of immediately glaring at Sho Dai, sitting on the throne that was rightfully mine, I turned my attention to someone I knew very well.

"Sister..."

The rest of both sides stood back as we stepped towards each other, face to face as we began to circle around one another. I began to evoke my feelings of hatred and disgust for this having occurred... My 'sister' was alive again and prepared to fight.

"You..." I heard her force the word out with an angry hiss. "You should not even exist!"

"I have as much a right to exist right now as you do. Let us not forget that both of us are the products of sorcery here..."

My sister put her hand on her hip. "I was not created from such disgusting methods... The only reason I exist now is to kill you and take my fully claimed position as Princess of Edenia. No one will contest my right to the throne!"

I tore away my mask, revealing my surprisingly human face to my shocked sister. "If you have been worried about any potential marring of your image, no worries. A little sorcery can cure what ails you."

"I don't care if you are an exact copy of me! You will never have my status!" My sister pulled out her fans, revealing quite obviously what her intentions were.

In response, I took out my sais. "Truthfully, when we first met, I had no want or desire to kill you. Now, though..." I licked the tip of one of my sais, almost like licking the barely-covered stick of an Earthrealm lollipop, "I'm not so sure."

The two of us stepped back from one another, about to throw our weapons, when a mystical purple portal opened up between us... Slowly but surely, the Earthrealm warriors appeared from within it, lining and grouping directly between the both of us. I watched as they all entered the throne room before the portal closed behind them.

A long moment of silence was felt, before my boyfriend calmly walked to the center of the room, between the three groups, myself, and Kitana.

"Well... Now what?"


	14. Of Royals, Lovers, and Bodyguards

**MARKUS X'S POV**

The entire room filled with kombatants fell quiet as I broke the awkward silence.

"Well, now what?"

The entire population froze and looked at me, some with angry stares, and others with smirks.

"Oh yeah... MORTAL KOMBAT!"

I had made one update to my armor design: adding headphones in the helmet and an MP3 player plugin. Some sweet techno music started as the three-way brawl began, and I was right in the middle of it!

Mileena dashed towards Kitana, their weapons flashing as I turned to see Jade's staff plunging into Skarlet's chest. The blood ninja let out a cry as she turned to reddish slime, sliding off the staff and reforming herself.

I watched Makis engage Li Mei in kombat as Ermac threw Kenshi against a wall. Khameleon and Reptile were fighting Nitya and Lamia. Turning to see who needed my help, I was shocked as a deluge of water smacked me in the back. Turning around, I quickly spotted the offender.

Rain.

Rain looked absolutely ridiculous, clad in an almost ludicrous array of gold-embroidered purple clothes as he gave what appeared to be a smirk from behind his mask. "What can I say? I am quite the opportunist."

Activating my wrist blades, I dashed towards the water ninja, but before I could make contact, he disappeared into a vortex of water. My momentum caused me to run into Gemini, herself being pursued by a returned Tasia.

Ignoring the Special Forces' tool, I turned, only to be backhanded by the purple ninja. "None are superior to me! Bow to your new ruler, pathetic Earthrealmer!"

Hearing the loud and overdramatized words of Rain, the kombatants stopped fighting each other and turned on him. Kitana lifted him up with the waving of her fans before Ermac telekinetically threw the haughty imbecile through a window and out of the palace. Even for super-charged guys like him, he wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

As the fight continued, I spotted Tanya, who currently was brutally assailing Sonya. While I really could care less about whatever happened to the Major, I still had enough love for the US to jump onto the back of the bumblebee-outfitted woman and pull her away.

Tanya's already white eyes glowed even brighter as she looked at me, smiling. Without warning, she lept at me, pressing herself against me as her sharp fingernails tried to find an opening, something she could use to remove my faceplate and press her chocolate lips to my own. While I ordinarily would've let her do that, I was both in a relationship and already knew that she had done this many times to many men.

With my left arm holding her back, I put all my strength into my right hand, smacking Tanya as hard as I could across the face. Surprisingly, I swung hard enough to hear the crack of her jaw as she went flying.

That was two down... I notice that Reptile was on the ground, firmly unconscious at the hands of Nitya and Lamia's teamup before Khameleon appeared behind them and bashed their heads against one another. The Saurian woman had strength, yes she did...

Turning towards Mileena and Kitana, I watched as the two 'sisters' fought a seemingly unending conflict, the kombatants around them falling as they were knocked out by one another. Standing close, I stepped towards Mileena, only to get a fireball thrown at me by some guy with a white eye who I guessed was trying to dress like a Ninja Turtle.

"You will not interfere in Kitana's fight!"

I turned to the man, well-muscled and Oriental. If he had shorter hair, I would've said he looked like Bruce Lee. "If you want a fight, I'll be glad to give it to you."

Fire came from the man's hands as he took a stance. "Show me what you can do..."

* * *

**MILEENA'S POV**

My sister was matching my every move, and I hers. Neither of us were likely going to gain a victory in this fight any time soon.

Hearing some grunts, I saw out of the corner of my eye Markus X and Liu Kang fighting. Markus was mocking Liu by copying the sounds he made during a bicycle kick or fist punch. Some of the few standing kombatants left, I also spied Jade and Skarlet pairing off, the two of them fighting each other with immense skill.

Eventually, I began to falter, my sais blocking her fans less and less quickly, until she eventually kicked me back. Landing on the ground, I got on my knees to stand up and continue the fight, but was stopped by the blades of Kitana's fans.

"Do you have anything to say before I send you to the Netherrealm, where you and all the disgusting abominations like yourself belong?"

I thought for a moment, noticing Markus shove Liu Kang back as he came towards me.

"Pinch!"

To distract my 'sister,' Markus gave her a quick yell, and a hard pinch with his fingers on the backside as well. She turned to swing at him, but instead barely missed slashing Liu Kang with her fan. A hint of shock came across both of their faces as they peered into each others' eyes.

"Liu Kang..." Kitana made her fans disappear as she brought a hand to Liu's chest.

"Kitana..." I could tell what he wanted, but he would not get it. Not here.

Markus draped an arm over my shoulder as we two lovers stared down the enemies. Skarlet slid next to us at the same time Jade joined the two of them on the far side of the room. The other combatants, minus a woman with glowing white eyes and a bluish face, we all unconscious, on the floor in extreme pain, or in Johnny Cage's case, probably too lazy to get back up and fight.

The three us us quickly stepped into fighting stances, as well as the other three pathetic persons across from us, but before we could attack one another, the blue-faced woman came between us.

"It is most curious... The royals, the lovers, and the bodyguards. Here they are, being proxied against one another as pawns in a game of celestial chess. And yet, none of you realize who the true enemies here are."

I heard Kitana speaking with Liu Kang about what had happened to her.

"Oh Liu, it's so good to be back here with you! Shinnok and Quan Chi revived me, believing that Jade and I would serve them for the rest of our existence. I never intended to follow their orders, of course... At the first opportunity, myself and Jade offered ourselves to Sho Dai as his personal enforcers."

"You support the armies of Outworld again?"

"Earthrealm is no place for you, Liu Kang... You deserve a place of true power, a place with me on my throne. Raiden never gave you any true reward for your guardianship of Earthrealm... In fact, he attempted to kill you before you could finish Shao Kahn. Why support a realm whose protector betrayed your trust?"

Liu Kang seemed stunned by Kitana's words. "Why the sudden change of attitude?"

I interrupted. "Is it not obvious? She wants to use you to support her own agenda: taking the Outworld throne, which is rightfully mine!"

My 'sister' ignored me as she continued. "Join me, Liu... We can both feign our loyalty to Shinnok before betraying him. You can plunge your fist through the Elder God's chest, power unlike you have ever seen becoming yours!"

The Shaolin monk seemed most tempted by her offer as she pulled close to him, running a finger down his chest.

"And above all, you have the most wonderfully important thing in all the realms: me."

It was then that she kissed him, holding herself tightly around him as she attempted to seduce the poor Shaolin monk. I barely felt sorry for him, but couldn't help but laugh as Markus X pulled out his 'iPhone' and pointed it at the two.

"This is gonna make a great YouTube vid..."


	15. Divine Intervention

**MARKUS X'S POV**

I couldn't help but laugh at what I was recording... Liu Kang and Kitana making out? I'm sorry, but I know absolutely no one who wouldn't laugh at this video once it was on YouTube and share it with their friends.

"I realize that you two lovebirds would love nothing better than to get a room, but could you perhaps get back to the big picture?"

Skarlet pulled out her kunoichi swords as Mileena readied her sais. I was still filming, even as the two obsessing lovers crossly turned to look at me.

"You are one to talk..." The Shaolin monk crossed his arms. "You chose to betray the trust of all Earthrealm by allying yourself with that... that abomination of a woman, Shao Kahn's daughter."

Removing my faceplate, I glared at Liu Kang. "Mileena is my girlfriend. I would do almost anything in the world for her, but she knows that I'm not the type to go and base delta zero Earthrealm simply because she wants that to happen. Besides, she has no interest in invading Earthrealm... Right?"

My girlfriend nodded, but the kung fu warrior didn't look convinced.

"I trust Mileena to not desire Earthrealm about as much as I would trust her to not bite down on my manhood if she had the chance."

"I'm sorry, but I could've sworn I just heard a complete imbecile call my girlfriend a whore..."

"She wants it from everybody!"

"In all sincerity, Liu, I think Mileena biting your dong off would probably benefit society quite a bit. You and Miss "Oh, she attacked me for no reason!" probably shouldn't have any kids."

The Shaolin warrior couldn't take it anymore. He and I rushed at one another, colliding at full speed in the middle of the arena as the four women began to fight as well.

I tried to punch and kick Liu Kang to the best of my ability, but he was too quick... His noticeable lack of armor meant he could easily block my punches and kicks, while providing plenty of his own. Leaping in the air, he kicked me a good half-dozen times to the face.

Trying to shake the sensation of those kicks off, I activated the wrist blade of the armor and slashed at him, grazing his shoulder as he moved to hit me again. The noises he made when trying to strike me sounded like a turkey on acid.

I got the opportunity to quickly glance at how the others were doing. Skarlet was draining Jade's blood from a large gash on her waist, while Mileena and Kitana were still fighting, both heavily injured and bleeding.

Before I realized that this fight was all-in and an opportunity for me to simply shoot Liu Kang, the room began to buzz as the crackle of electricity was heard. Both myself and the Shaolin monk stopped fighting before turning to see what the two of us hoped wasn't there.

"Oh God, not him..."

* * *

**RAIDEN'S POV**

Atraya had summoned me from my voluntary exile to the mountains of Tibet. I had hoped to meditate and cleanse my mind of the deaths of the Earthrealm warriors. However, it seemed that the Elder Gods felt a threat was growing, one that was very familiar to me.

Shinnok.

As I materialized in the throne room of Outworld's many rulers, I saw a sight that nearly shattered my thoughts of victory: Liu Kang, my former pupil, was fighting a man in armor that I recognized immediately as Markus X. Beyond them, the sisters, Kitana and Mileena, battled one another, their sheer hatred for one another keeping them from passing out due to their injuries. Even deeper into the grand centerfold of the palace, Shao Kahn's former assassins dueled with one another, Skarlet clearly close to finishing Jade.

With little time to spare, I gathered a ball of lightning in my hands and threw it at the ceiling, the electrical energy incapacitating the kombatants so I could speak with Atraya in peace.

"And so again, Raiden, you are, as Earthrealmers say, 'late to the party.' While your decision did not result in any fatalities, I expected you would have learned from your mistake."

I turned to the woman I had known for so many millions of years. "Why now have the Elder Gods chosen to involve themselves in this struggle? Is it simply because of Shinnok's return, or is there a deeper meaning to this apparent intrusion into the mortal realms?"

The woman put her hand on my shoulder in a calming gesture. "You must not let divinity interfere with your connections to mortals. Your relationship with Liu Kang was shattered due to such interference, and that with Markus was as well. While we as divine beings are not required to abide by the same rules as mortals, there is no reason directly, say, shatter a relationship. Until a discernible threat can be found as a result of Mileena and Markus X's union, neither of us should interfere."

I nodded. "And what of Shinnok? How can the Forces of Light unite against such a foe as him when they are too busy killing one another? It is impossible..."

"Raiden, the Elder Gods have been directly brought into this conflict as a result of Shinnok. I was allowed to descend from the Heavens in order to join this struggle on the side of Light. The Kombatants will be united against him, but remember what I have said: if there is no threat caused by something personal in the lives of the kombatants, do not interfere. Did I and the others not abide by the same rule when Shao Kahn attempted to merge the realms?"

I stayed quiet before bowing to the Elder Goddess as the kombatants began to awaken from their shock-induced slumber...

* * *

**LIU KANG'S POV**

I brought a hand to my head, the pain of having been electrocuted still coursing through my head as I got on my hands and knees before standing up. Indeed it was him, Lord Raiden...

Stepping up to him, I bowed, a sign of humility after my arrogance was shown to be misplaced. " Lord Raiden, I apologize for my brash actions when last we met. I should have listened to you."

The thunder god eyed my face, clearly looking at my scarred eye. "I too am sorry, Liu Kang. I should never have attempted to stop you from engaging Shao Kahn in Mkrtal Kombat. The Elder Gods would have come regardless of who fought the Emperor."

I noticed my opponent standing up as well. Sparks flew from his armor as he took his helmet off.

"You've got to be kidding me... Raiden's back! Yippee! The entire universe is safe! Give me a break..."

The thunder god turned to the rude warrior. "And I apologize to you as well, Markus X. There was no threat from your relationship with Mileena, and thus, if you were happy with her in Outworld, I had no right to force your return. I swear on my word as thunder god that I will never again interfere in your relationship."

The smug satisfaction on Markus's face gave away his thoughts. "Alright... I suppose I can accept that. Not like I'll get much better, anyways..."

Ignoring him, I turned back to Lord Raiden. "What shall we do now? The warriors are wounded, our alliance is in shambles... What is there to do to stop a fallen Elder God when your strongest warrior is a class below him?"

Atraya interrupted. "Actually, I am the strongest here, with power equal to that of Shinnok himself, minus any magical enhancements."

"That is impossible... Only another Elder God would carry such..."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Markus bring his hand to his face.

"Really? You didn't get that? She's the Elder God, genius..."

I paused before kneeling and bowing to the Elder Goddess. "My apologies for ignoring your divinity, Lady Atraya."

"Atraya will do... Now, we must gather those of the Forces of Light, in preparation for the final battle. Argus's safeguard must be utilized in order to truly prevent Armageddon once Shinnok is defeated. All members of the Forces of Darkness must be killed, restrained, or converted to the side of Light by this battle, otherwise they may claim Blaze's power, and use it For their own nefarious purposes. We must stop them if we do not want the realms to grow unstable and fragment one another!"


	16. Sisterly Hate

**KITANA'S POV**

My existence seemed so much different from before my death... I was with the one I loved, planning to eliminate the one responsible for returning me from the Netherrealm, but there was one problem with this entire scenario...

She was there.

Mileena was everything I despised... She was a clone, one cross-bred with that of Baraka's race, no less! Nothing more than a cheap, poorly lithographed copy of myself. She was also manipulative, deceptive, and desired nothing more than to rule over all of my realms... I knew that this facade of hers, being caring and all, was nothing but a fallacy, a trap to lure Markus in...

And yet... Mileena was different from when I last saw her. She was more composed, less erratic and unstable, as well as physically altered. One could merely wonder what the facelift she had received was doing to boost her self-esteem. If I did not have so much disgust for her, I would have been glad that she had seemingly matured since our last encounter.

Turning to Raiden, I glanced at the thunder god with an aura of frustration and hope. While I had died as a result of his dodgy plans to save Earthrealm, he ultimately was correct in his assumption that Shao Kahn's merger of the realms would bring about his demise. A pity he had not known of Quan Chi's plans, however... They would be most interesting once the Earthrealmers found out about them.

"Well, Raiden, let's get moving! The Netherrealm isn't going to kill itself, after all..."

If there was one thing that annoyed me more than Mileena, it was her boyfriend. He was rude, disturbingly uncultured, and showed no respect for those of a higher social status than himself. Turning to him, I gave as cross a look as my masked face would allow.

"You should show more respect to the Elder Gods and their subordinates, Markus... I do not believe Raiden deserves to be talked down to by someone not as closely connected with them as myself or Liu Kang."

The armored warrior turned to look at me, and I caught a glare from Mileena as he did so.

"Look, lady... Why should I respect anyone or anything that doesn't respect me? I have no reason to disrespect someone unless they do it to me first, but still. These 'Elder Gods' have done jack for me. Why should I listen to them?"

"The Elder Gods are responsible for the creation of the realms. You would not exist unless the Elder Gods had brought them into being."

"This is getting ridiculous... You're starting to sound some some sort of New Age hippie from another dimension. Until I see reasonably solid evidence that these 'Elder Gods' deserve my worship, I'm going to decline."

An Elder Goddess stood before him and he had the audacity to disrespect her in such a way? I was about to attack this worthless swine and his abomination of a girlfriend, when Lady Atraya spoke.

"Enough of this! We will return to Earthrealm and prepare for the upcoming incursion into the Netherrealm. I do not care about your foolish personal vendettas, nor do I wish to involve myself in them! Cease your hostility towards one another and make amends, otherwise you will tear this alliance apart! No one from any of the realms will survive the resulting conflict unless you end this!"

I looked at the abomination of a sister I had, almost entirely ignoring Atraya's words of wisdom."You know as well as I do that you have no right to the throne of Edenia, Outworld, or any realm! You were born of Shang Tsung's sorcery for Shao Kahn. What right have you to my throne?"

* * *

**MILEENA'S POV**

"No... No!"

It felt as though an invisible blade had been shoved through my chest as Kitana's barbed tongue spoke those horribly truthful words. I was not her biological sister, yes, but that never stopped me from attempting to be the sister I knew I had been intended to be. Her next words, though, were what left me truly speechless.

"You are evil, and have no place in this world!"

I stepped back, overcome with a feeling I had only felt once before: sadness. My mind attempted to put together a response to her barbed words.

"You are right, Kitana... I am evil, technically speaking. But if I have no right to existence in this realm or any other, then neither will you!"

I struggled to lunge at my 'sister,' but Markus held me back as I continued to yell at her.

"Look at you, Kitana! You are willing to use anything, and I do mean anything, to get your royal position back!"

The frustrating Edenian have me what I guessed was a smile. "You know as well as I do that if you were in my position, you would be trying to do the same thing. Being royalty is all you ever wanted, after all. Well, that and someone who wasn't afraid of your enormous maw..."

If looks could kill, Kitana would have died minutes ago. But before I could respond to her latest insult, Markus pulled me close and whispered in my ear.

"Don't waste your time with the jealous wench over there... Let's just go along with Atraya and life can get back to normal."

I gave a gentle nod as Markus kissed me on the cheek, my anger slowly subsiding. It was then that Johnny Cage decided to perk up...

* * *

**JOHNNY CAGE'S POV**

"This is just like my movie 'Terrordon," where me and the Garcia twins were going through a whole relationship triangle or something like that. Of course, that was in a jungle full of dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and other creepy-crawly things that I still have nightmares about, but it still had a big box office debut!"

The two sisters looked at me before Sonya smacked me. Oddly enough, though, I barely felt it as I noticed a bruise on the side of her cheek large enough for me to write my name in cursive on. "Woah... What happened to you?"

"Bruise from one of the Black Dragons, nothing to worry about."

I simply nodded as that Atraya chick raised her hand, a white light surrounding us as we began to reappear in the Special Forces headquarters.

I couldn't help but think about how bad that bruise must've felt on her face. Stepping over, I put a hand on her shoulder, one thing she oddly enough didn't draw away from.

"Lemme help take your mind off the bruise, okay?"

As I moved in for a hug, I heard several of the kombatants talk amongst themselves...

"Wow... Johnny's so cool at this whole comforting thing, he makes me look like Scorpion."

"My systems calculate a ninety-eight percent chance that the two of them like each other, with a less than a quarter of a percent error."

"I and the Others have been through love enough times to know that these two show the signs of it..."

"When is she gonna chain him up so then can get cuffed together, if you know what I mean?"

"Skarlet I thought I taught you better jokes than that..."

"Hey, I can't help it if I'm a fan of chains, whips, and other blood-letting forms of excitement!"

I looked at Skarlet... She seemed a bit pale and thinning. "Um, Skarlet? I think you need to get your drink on."

Markus noticed it too, turning to Sonya. "Does the medbay, or hospital, or whatever you guys have here carry blood packs, or at least perflubron?"

She nodded, and as the Iron Man-like warrior went to go get some food for his bloody bodyguard, I raised an eyebrow. "What's perflubron?"

Sonya merely hugged me again, something I was highly surprised at as she whispered in my ear. "You'll never know, Johnny. You'll never know..."


	17. Warnings and Sleepovers

**ATRAYA'S POV**

Why did mortals have to be so unusual sometimes? For one descended from the lineage of warriors bred to be the champions of Earthrealm for the Elder Gods, Johnny Cage seemed completely oblivious to the ways of his ancestors, adopting a hedonistic lifestyle that seemed unbreakable even by the harsh teachings of the realm of order.

As I watched, hearing more comments about the clear relationship-building Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage were currently involved in, I noticed Markus quickly return with blood packs in his hands, each labelled with what I knew to be the types of blood. Placing them on a table, he motioned to Skarlet.

"Here we go... I've got all blood types, positive and negative. Just tell me which one you want and I'll give it to you."

The bloodspawn paused, selecting AB Positive. "I'll try one of these."

Grabbing a blood pack, she slashed the top of it open and poured the red liquid over her body. As I watched, the sanguine liquid seemed to disappear, absorbed by her sorcery-created figure. "Mmm... Not bad. What else have you got?"

Over the next few moments, Skarlet sampled the various types of blood. Strangely enough, her apparent "favorite" appeared to be O Negative. I assumed this was due to the increase in biological resistance this gave her, as well as the negative energy strengthening her bewitched frame. Regardless, she sooner or later appeared fully nourished, the only evidence of anything unusual being small droplets of blood on the floor near her feet.

Parsek's mouth had been open the entire time. "That's... Interesting..."

Markus was more blatant. "That was pretty awesome! It reminded me of taking a steamy, soothing shower."

Skarlet smiled under her mask. "Thanks..."

Enjoying the moment of peace from battle, I sensed something. Something evil and necrotic...

Without warning, the portal device activated, but instead of it having a purple coloration, it this time held a sickly green tint. Before the being even came through, I already knew who it was.

"Quan Chi..."

* * *

**MARKUS X'S POV**

I knew who the man entering through my portal was. With his pale skin, overall gothic appearance, and strange red tattoos emblazoned upon his back, head, and shoulders, no one could possibly misidentify him. He was Quan Chi, formerly a sorcerer in the service of Shao Kahn, and likely, one of the architects behind the Emperor's defeat.

Following behind him were two beings I did not recognize. The first appeared to be a male with no skin, a club replacing his right hand and a mask covering his face. The other was darker skinned and more ape-like, a hideous monstrosity of a being that made me cringe.

"And so we meet yet again, Thunder God. I see you've brought the entire party of Earthrealm warriors with you... How unfortunate."

Raiden turned to look at the goth-like demon. "What we are doing is none of your concern, sorcerer. What is your reasoning behind coming to this realm?"

Quan Chi crossed his arms. "I merely bring a message from Shinnok."

Shinnok? The fallen Elder God who was apparently the mastermind of this entire thing? Ugh... This was worse than an episode of the TV remake of the board game 'Clue.' "Well, out with it, Quan! The suspense is killing me!"

The demon gave a silent sneer in my direction before responding. "Shinnok wishes to inform you that the Army of Darkness shall invade Earthrealm at the end of this year. Feel free to attempt to stop us before that time, but be forewarned... Your deaths are merely delayed by refusing to act. Despite this, should any of you surrender to Shinnok and accept him as your new lord and master, he will spare your pathetic existence from utter annihilation."

The monstrous beings flanking the sorcerer sneered as he turned and walked back through the portal, his lackeys following him.

"That's it? An amazing fight between good and evil, the most important forces in the universe, and that's the announcement we get for this? Come on now..."

I was kind of ticked off that there wasn't more drama in this critical part of our struggle. I mean, this was a serious deal! The culmination of a battle that had gone on for such a long period of time, since the beginnings of recorded history. Good and evil have always struggled, and whoever won this conflict would determine the fate of Earth, and good itself, in my lifetime.

Atraya watched the portal close as she turned to Sonya. "Sonya Blade, how many Earth months are there until the end of this year?"

"I'd say around two months, probably a bit longer."

"Excellent..." The 'Elder Goddess' turned to the rest of us. "Then we shall stay in Earthrealm until shortly before the allotted time, at which point we shall call the Forces of Darkness to the pyramid and begin their annihilation."

It was now time for me to clarify something. "So where will we be staying? I really don't want to end up getting forced into a military barracks, complete with bland food, steel beds, and rock hard pillows."

Raiden was the one who responded this time. "I believe that yourself and Mileena could more adequately utilize your private residence. I will stay with you as well, in order to teleport you back to Special Forces headquarters when the time is right."

Mileena spoke up. "And what of my generals and their armies?"

The hovering man in bandages answered. "I believe that myself and the Others can inform them of our current whereabouts. My telepathy would allow for your orders to be mentally transmitted to me."

* * *

**MILEENA'S POV**

"I believe that will work... Skarlet will need to accompany us, so I would hope that you have the room for three guests."

My bodyguard blushed. "I'll just rest in a bucket... If you have some large container that would fit my natural form, I can use that."

Raiden continued with his standard emotionless look. "I have no need of sleep or food."

My boyfriend gave a surprisingly sarcastic look at the thunder god, as though to say "I already knew that."

"Can we just get to my house? You know where it is... No need to stay around here wasting meaningless diatribe with one another."

Raiden nodded, transporting the four of us across Earthrealm to Markus's house...

* * *

We arrived in what appeared to be a workshop of some sort. There were metal parts of various shapes and sizes everywhere to be seen. Dangerous looking tools were everywhere as I noticed a workbench with a shirt on it.

"Welcome to my humble abode, ladies and 'thunder god.' I hope you have a nice stay. Let's get started with the tour, shall we!?"

My lovely boyfriend pointed to some of the seemingly complete items on the wall. "These are older projects of mine, along with some things I've been working on. Most of my stuff was put aside after I started building the portal."

I grabbed a glove from the wall. "What does this do?"

He quickly rushed over to take it. "Careful, Mileena! These gloves have hundreds of tiny micro servos imbedded in them. I would highly suggest you put those back before your hand gets crushed. The gloves have a habit of closing on their own... I blame an accident with Pepsi for that."

Stepping towards the door that lead to my house, I opened it.

"Well... Come on in!"


	18. Home Sweet Home

**MARKUS X'S POV**

Opening the door, I watched my girlfriend, her bodyguard, and the 'thunder god' all come into my house through the door from the garage. After all, since my workshop was in my garage, I never felt like I really needed to use the front door.

Passing by the guest bedroom and the laundry room, I brought the guests into the center of the house, a living room with direct access to the kitchen, dining room table, and an offshoot room with a large TV and several game consoles. Motioning for the guests to sit down, I briefly explained everything to them while pointing out the rooms and whatnot.

"Over there is the kitchen. I have a large amount of MREs in the fridge, as well as microwaveable meals and ice cream in the freezer. If any of you want to play some video games, I have all the modern consoles, and some older ones too. I have two spare bedrooms, and assuming that Mileena'll be sleeping with me, that leaves one for Raiden and one for Skarlet. You'll have to share a bathroom, I suppose... That is, if you even take showers or baths. Mileena and I'll be using the master bathroom."

Skarlet was the first to raise her hand. "What if I get blood on the sheets?"

"They're white. I'll just bleach them as much as I can until all the blood's gone."

Raiden gave a nod. "You are very generous, Markus X."

"Don't mention it, Raiden. We're cool now, so I really don't have any real reason to go all PMSing on you right now."

Mileena was the last one to respond, and it was more a surprised statement than a question. "Truthfully, I never expected your house to be so... So small."

"We'll, let's not forget that on Earthrealm, I don't exactly have any significant power, and while I'd love to get it, exterminating a huge amount of people that would be in my way just doesn't sit real well with me. Besides, Outworld's a cooler place."

My girlfriend smiled, heading to check out her new living quarters as I looked at the other two. "Anyone up for some Super Smash Brothers?"

Skarlet gave a raise of her hand, but Raiden remained silent. "I do not play video games. It is something I have never found to be fun."

"Come on... Don't be such a downer, Raiden! At least try it once, okay?"

With obvious reluctance, Raiden followed Skarlet and myself into the room as the two of them sat down on the couch, myself plugging in the N64...

* * *

**SKARLET'S POV**

I found the controls to the game Markus put into the console to be a bit difficult to handle, but after a while, I was at least competent at playing it. I didn't know anything about the characters or the backstory, aside from a giant white glove that apparently rules the world in this game, but you don't have to know the history of something to do it well.

For my character, I had chosen a red and blue-dressed man with a mustache. Raiden chose a guy with pointed ears and a sword, while Markus chose what appeared to be a green copy of my character.

Focusing as intently as I could, I tried to knock Raiden's character off the arena stage, but he lept over me and smacked me with his sword, KOing me. "Player two defeated!"

In disgust, I got up, moving out of the way as Raiden and Markus continued playing. Though the Earthrealmer was a good player, he eventually lost out to the thunder god's superior reflexes, gently throwing down the controller. "Alright, you won."

"And that is why I typically do not play video games."

"Do I detect a trace of humor in your comment?"

I crossed my arms before spying something rectangular with buttons on it. Quickly grabbing it, I pressed one, and the image on the TV shifted to that of a blonde news reporter.

"In recent news, President Obama's tighter restrictions on assault weapons have officially returned their first statistics, a good ten thousand assault rifles being returned as part of the government buyback program. Critics point to barely changed rates of gun violence in recent reports, however the numbers are expected to go down in the near future as weapons are bought back in greater quantities. For NBC news, I'm Jennison Page."

I didn't really understand... "Um, who and what was that woman talking about?"

Markus turned to look at me as he unplugged the gaming console. "President Obama's been putting restrictions on weapons classified as "assault weapons." Personally I think it's nonsense, but I don't expect ATF agents to show up at my front door anytime soon, so it's not really relevant to me unless I go outside and yell 'Hey! I have power armor, nanotech shirts, and flamethrowers in my garage!' to the whole world."

That sort of explained what was going in... I'd check on his iPhone later. For now, I would just relax with Raiden as Markus went to take a shower as well...

* * *

**MILEENA'S POV**

If there was something I could say about Markus's house that was better than my palace, it was the bathroom.

Shimmering tiles of a stone-like material lined the walls and floor as my eyes followed it to the bathtub, made of a white material that felt very smooth. There were some openings in the tub I did not know the use for, as well as a knob on the side.

Hearing footsteps, I turned around, but Markus had already started answering my questions..

"This is a jacuzzi bathtub. This basically means it has jets in it that you can adjust and whatnot. I could get it ready for you if you want..."

Unsure of how to use the tub myself, I merely nodded as Markus turned the water on, my boyfriend setting the temperature of the rushing liquid to that of a steamy hot spring. While he was busy preparing the large tub, I quickly stripped out of my still-bloodied clothes.

After several minutes, the tub was full, and Markus turned around, gawking at my appearance. Then again though, was there really any way he couldn't?

"Um... I'm going to go take my clothes off now..."

I watched Markus take off the clunky armor, the clothes, and the undergarments beneath it as he prepared to get into the shower, but before he could even place one foot in, I tenderly grabbed him.

"No need for us to let this wonderfully warm bath go to waste... I can already imagine the soothing water flowing over my body..."

His face perked up, a smile forming on the corners of his lips. "Well, I never did bathe you like I was going to that one time in Outworld... Consider this is my makeup session."

"Indeed..." Gently, I shoved him, forcing him into the water with a splash as I stepped into the comfortable bath myself. Stretching out, I got on top of him and began to kiss him, the two of us eying one another as the inevitable feelings of lust and passion began to take their toll on us. As was to be expected, the quick bath soon turned into something far more dirty...

Once both of us were done and clean, I wrapped a towel around myself as Markus put on a shirt and some shorts. Stepping outside, he handed me a magenta t-shirt, a pair of white undergarments, and some shorts. "Not exactly an Earthrealm wardrobe for a woman such as yourself, but it should do. I'll clean your outfit off so you can use it later, or you could simply ask Ermac to bring your spares."

I nodded and put on the clothes I was given, no mask on my face as the two of us stepped out of the bedroom and into the living room that Skarlet and Raiden sat in. I could only hope that the two months flew by as fast as possible. I did not want to stay here for long, after all. Soon, Markus would be given his dues, I would rule Outworld once again, and Shinnok's forces would be defeated... Permanently!


	19. The Other House

**PARSEK'S POV**

Just like Markus, I'd been foolish enough to pick up some of the non-Special Forces members of the Forces of Light up as guests at my own house, and while I did have two stories at home, seven guests was almost too many to handle.

As I of course required transport back to the base, I had to bring Atraya along... With us were Sapphire and Glace, Kitana and Jade, Liu Kang, and finally Kai. I gave a silent groan as to how I was going to fit all the kombatants in my house...

Stepping inside, I turned back to make sure that all of them had entered before I opened the fridge and grabbed several packages of instant ramen noodles. "So, who's hungry?" The others seemed to ignore me, but Glace was kind enough to give me a response. "I will gladly try whatever you have."

Placing the ramen noodles in the microwave, I began to heat them up as the pairs began to talk to one another.

"I do not like him, Jade..."

"Kitana, please! He has been courteous enough to offer us a meal with whatever he has available to us."

"I understand. However, that still does not change my opinion of things. I should be living in a palace instead of such a small house as this!"

Ignoring the prissy princess, I tuned in to Liu Kang and Kai's conversation. Both of them were Shaolin monks... perhaps they could teach me some new techniques and styles in regards to martial arts.

"Master, I am most pleased that you allowed me to come with you on this journey."

"It is nothing, Kai... You deserve the chance to be a hero. During Armageddon, we will not fight as master and student, but as equals."

"Indeed... Did you not notice the karategi Parsek was wearing when we met him? He's the first person we have encountered from America during this quest that shows signs of raw ability in the martial arts."

"I noticed it too. While he has good form and strikes hard, he will need to train his way to perfection by the time Armageddon occurs."

I smiled, my head turned away from them. Their compliments were appreciated more than they knew as I removed the ramen noodles from the microwave, dividing the large noodly mass into several smaller portions that I served on simple ceramic tableware. "Food's ready!"

Most of the kombatants simply grabbed the instant noodles and began to eat them, but Kitana merely stared at her plate, not even bothering to glance at the fork sitting next to it. Jade gave her a gentle nudge on the shoulder.

"Come now, Princess... Try it, at least. It's very good."

Liu Kang tossed her a look as well. "Be courteous, Kitana. Your royal upbringing should remind you to show respect to those who take you into your home."

Finally, with a groan, Kitana reached for the fork, twirling some noodles around it as she removed her mask and took a bite. Her eyes immediately lit up at the simple yet flavorful dish, and she sped up her eating of it. "Such a simple flavor... I like it!"

As the kombatants continued to eat, I soon noticed that Sapphire was missing. Turning to Glace, I raised an eyebrow. "Where's Sapphire?"

"She went to the restroom. I'm not sure why, but I believe it may have to do with her bleeding hands."

Nodding, I left to go check on the Earthrealm princess, when I heard crying in the restroom. Peering around the corner, I saw someone that very clearly was not Sapphire.

"What... Who are you?"

* * *

**SERINA'S POV**

I just could not take it anymore... My body felt as though it was about to explode. I rushed to the bathroom, no one fortunately noticing as I sighed, my body changing back to its original form.

Unable to take the stress anymore, I began to cry, tears running down my cheeks as I held my hands to my face. I didn't understand what I was doing, what my purpose was... I never even was told my true reason for existing.

However, I had forgotten to shut the door, a big mistake as Parsek stepped by. Right then, I knew my ruse was busted.

"What... Who are you?"

Still crying, I waved him away with a hand. "Just... Just go away and let me cry!"

Unsure of how to act, Parsek simply stepped over and gave me a tender embrace, as though to say "It's alright, no need to cry." I couldn't help but accept the hug as I slowly began to stop crying.

"I'm sorry... So sorry for everything..."

He looked at me, a strange look on his face. It's okay... Any harm that may have been done is not your fault. Please... What's your name, and where are you from?"

I looked up at the surprisingly friendly martial artist before answering, my red irises on full display. With my reddish-black hair, I looked as though I were Skarlet's twin. "My name, or rather, the name I was given, is Serina. I was sent here by Nitya and Lamia to spy on the Earthrealm warriors. At first, I did whatever she said, but she never told me if what I was doing was right or wrong. Now that I have gotten to know you and the others better, I believe that what I thought was right is really wrong. But now... I have no clue what right truly is. It is very confusing..."

Parsek seemed somewhat touched by my words. I was telling the truth... Having been only recently created, and with no one to guide me, I didn't know what was right and what was wrong. I simply obeyed without question, a dangerous mindset to be in.

"Nice to officially meet you, Serina. I will go and tell the others about this revelation."

And let them take turns torturing me? I knew what their response would be, and as such, I grabbed Parsek's arm and held him down as hard as I could.

"You can't do that! If you do, I will be executed! You know that everyone will want me dead!"

The salty water began to run down my cheeks again as the martial artist gently pulled me up from my seat on the toilet. "Don't worry... Nothing's going to happen to you. Just come with me. If they try anything, I'll protect you. Okay?"

With the tears still flowing, I reluctantly followed him out to the rest of the group, unsure of what was to become of me...

* * *

**GLACE'S POV**

When I first spotted Parsek walking in with someone who was clearly not Sapphire, I immediate got into a fighting stance. "Who in Raiden's name is that?"

The other kombatants followed suit, preparing to fight the unknown girl. She looked like Skarlet, the bodyguard of Mileena, but seemed shorter, more modestly dressed, and oddly enough, a bit shy. I could tell from the glisten of her cheeks that she'd been crying.

"Calm down, guys... This is Serina."

The girl raised a hand and gave a shy glimpse of a smile. "Hi..."

I was not convinced yet that Serina was not a threat. "Where's Sapphire?"

"I... I don't know. The last time I saw her, Lamia and Nitya had her."

Balls of snow began to form around my fists as the temperature dropped. Liu Kang wrapped an arm around Kitana to help keep her warm as I stepped towards Parsek.

"This is your fault! You let them take Sapphire and did nothing to stop them!"

"How could I have known to stop them? I was less than twenty-four hours old at the time! Even now, I still am not old enough to know what truly is right and wrong..."

I stopped before saying anything else. She was right... Though she was intelligent, created to be a nearly perfect spy, she still had the mind of a child, unable to determine what right and wrong were, doing only what she was told to do.

"You're right. I apologize, Serina. I should not have been so harsh with you." As my hands defrosted, I held one out to the former spy in order to apologize with a handshake.

Looking at my hand, Serina had no idea what to do. "You want me to touch your hand and freeze?" A smile former on the corner of her lips...

"Was that a joke?"

Crossing her legs, Serina simply nodded as Parsek turned to look at her again. "Who's ready to hear sleeping arrangements?"

Ignoring them for the moment, I instead focused in Atraya, who had come up to me and caught me unawares. The Elder Goddess gave a slight nod of approval as she spoke.

"You did well, Glace, but nothing would have saved Sapphire from her current state. Relax and enjoy these few months you will spend with your fellow kombatants, and be mindful of Serina. Who she aligns herself with at Armageddon will depend on your actions."

Giving a respectful bow, I watched as Atraya teleported herself away, likely upstairs to whatever room Parsek had prepared for her. I could only wonder what would await us during the next few months...


	20. Transition

**THIRD PERSON POV**

From deep within the shadows, a figure emerged. Draped in black, he was clearly humanoid, but his specific features were shrouded and disguised by the thick cloak he wore. Turning, he waited for the correct moment before speaking.

Acting all dramatic and whatnot, the Author then pulled back his hood to reveal a very generic head and face.

**What, you expected the shadow of death? Anyways, Misadventures 2 is over. I will pick up in the next story from Halloween to Armageddon, so expect a shard more humor in this ending sequel.**

**I would like to thank those loyal readers who have stuck with me since my first story... Drawerfan, ElfDavis, EvilGeniusProductions, and Edenian Princess are some of the few who enjoyed my fics. There was someone trolling the comments, and though I believe I know who it is, I'll let them continue to make a fool of themself.**

**Anyways, on to more important matters relating to the next story... I have formulated a list of ten probable questions someone may have labour the sequel. Let's get answering, shall we?**

**1: "How are you going to resurrect the dead Earthrealmers?" Various plot devices... I brought Smoke back with one(being that as a demon, he was not truly killed, only made subservient), and expect some more later down the line. Do note that stuff like that has at least some canonical basis... My story wasn't designed to fully deviate MK lore from its original path.**

**2: "Where's Scorpion, Sareena, etc?" The goons belonging to Quan Chi are, for the most part, still with him. Noob Saibot is a rare exception, someone I don't really want to bother with until much later. And speaking of...**

**3: "Isn't the soulnado supposed to have killed Noob Saibot?" Perhaps, but I had a different view... Suffice to say that Classic Sub-Zero may be making an appearance soon. Sure, he has as much solidity in canon as Human Smoke, but hey, the more the merrier.**

**4: "Will the plot arc with the Lin Kuei be expanded?" You betcha... Sektor and his goons will almost obviously join the Forces of Darkness at Armageddon. Maybe they'll run into Taven, who knows?**

**5: "No Dragon King or Deadly Alliance?" Um... Considering the fight with Shinnok coming up in the next story, and the alliance between Sho Dai and Quan Chi, I suppose MKG and MK:DA got mixed. As for Deception, Onaga will show up eventually. He has to.**

**6: "Is Ermac controlled by Jerrod now?" Yes... That's kind of obvious, as anyone would guess from his MK9 ending. The 'Others' he refers to are the souls he(as Ermac) relies upon for such things as kombat, telekinesis, etc.**

**7: "Is Kitana evil in this fic?" Not so much evil as corrupted. Remember: certain aspects of life change the very ways things go. It wouldn't take too much imagination to envision a scenario in which Kitana and Mileena had their fates swapped. Besides, I can't imagine Shinnok and Quan Chi resurrecting the Earthrealm warriors without making each of them a sinister version of their former selves.**

**8: "What about characters such as Nitara, Chameleon, etc? Will they be included?" The answer is yes... Nitara will have disappearing or retractable wings to make her look a bit more sensible, and Chameleon? Dunno what to say about him. He is a rather obscure character, but then again I dedicated a fight to Ruutuu, a character solely from the Challenge Tower... We'll see.**

**9: "What about these OCs? You did try to introduce another pairing of Princess and bodyguard with Glacé and Sapphire..." True, but I thought something more interesting was needed than a mere Mileena-Skarlet pairing, ala Kitana-Jade. And no, Glace is not a Cryomancer I made to replace Frost, or a Cryomancer in general. More on that will be revealed in the next story, but suffice to say, read up on your Japanese mythology.**

**10: "Why did (insert notable occurrence) happen/not happen in the story?" If you want an answer, PM me what you're curious about and I'll try to answer to the best of my ability. No promises though...**

With almost no effort at all, the Author turned away and replaced his hood.

**Anyways, I have some creative thinking to do. The story will be up soon, so patience... Some friends of mine should be coming up with more stuff to entertain you sooner or later, so relax and enjoy the feeling of having completed the reading of this story! Be seeing you...**

Turning away, the Author walked further into the darkness of the void, debtors disappearing into the maelstrom of barren and dark emptiness.

**Thanks for reading the story, everyone! I'm looking forward to finishing this story out with a little help from my friends. Expect more fics soon! :D**


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